More than 12,000 fly-tipping incidents reported in Sheffield in one year - but just two fines handed out at court

The Country Land and Business Association said the “disgraceful behaviour” blights the countryside and warned that the true extent of fly-tipping across England is probably even higher than feared.

Some 12,126 fly-tipping incidents were reported to Sheffield Council in 2020-21, which was down from 14,231 made the year before.

Meanwhile, just two fines resulting from court convictions were issued in the area last year – down from 20 in 2019-20.

Sheffield Council carried out 1,723 enforcement actions in 2020-21, including handing out 289 fixed penalty notices.

Across England, a record 1.1 million fly-tipping incidents were found in 2020-21, up from 980,000 the previous year.

But the number of court fines halved from 2,672 to just 1,313.

The CLA, which represents rural businesses, said the vast majority of fly-tipping occurs on private land, which the figures do not cover.

Mark Tufnell, president of the CLA, said: “These figures do not tell the full story of this disgraceful behaviour which blights our beautiful countryside.

“Fly-tipping continues to wreck the lives of many of us living and working in the countryside – and significant progress needs to be made to stop it.

“It’s not just the odd bin bag but large household items, from unwanted sofas to broken washing machines, building materials and even asbestos being dumped across our countryside.”

Sheffield saw 20.6 fly-tipping incidents per 1,000 people last year – which was similar to the average across England, of 20.1.

Household waste accounted for 9,230 incidents last year (76 per cent), while 295 were classed as large enough to fill a tipper lorry.

Sarah Lee, director of policy and campaigns at the Countryside Alliance, said: “From quiet rural lanes and farmers’ fields to bustling town centres and residential areas, fly-tipping continues to cause misery.

“Lockdown and the subsequent closure of tips only exacerbated this situation and we would urge local authorities to think very carefully about preventing access to these facilities in future.”

The Government said the first national coronavirus lockdown impacted many local authorities’ recycling programmes, and that changes to household purchasing may also have driven the increased fly-tipping.

Resources and Waste Minister Jo Churchill said: “During the pandemic, local authorities faced an unprecedented challenge to keep rubbish collections running and civic amenity sites open, and the Government worked closely with them to maintain these critical public services.

“We have already given local authorities a range of powers to tackle fly-tipping and we are going further; strengthening powers to detect and prosecute waste criminals through the new Environment Act, consulting on introducing electronic waste tracking and reforming the licencing system.”

Last month, a father and son from Sheffield were ordered to pay back thousands in ill gotten gains after they were involved in a fraudulent waste disposal business.

Horace Piggott was also jailed for two years after pleading guilty to multiple waste offences and fraud at Sheffield Crown Court, and his son Deano Piggott was given a 12 month community order with rehabilitation and 120 hours’ of unpaid work for fly-tipping offences.

Horace, aged 69 and Deano, 38, both of Long Acre View, Holbrook, advertised a waste collection service but dumped waste illegally instead of at official sites.