FLY-TIPPING incidents in the district have suddenly fallen – although council chiefs are not entirely sure why.
The district had for many years the highest level of fly-tipping incidents in Warwickshire with more than 1,000 incidents reported each year,
Such was the scale of the problem that only last October Warwick District Council teamed-up with Rugby Borough Council, which has its own in-house investigation team, to take a hard line against businesses and residents responsible for illegal dumping.
Warwick now collects evidence and passes it on to colleagues in Rugby to investigate and produce prosecution case files – at a cost of £75 per hour. This was deemed a better option than Warwick setting up its own in-house team.
New figures show fly-tipping incidents in Warwick were down to 835 in the past year – which cost just over £30,000 to clear up. The previous 12 months saw 1,092 incidents logged.
A council spokesman said: “Warwick District Council is very pleased to note that incidents of fly-tipping have fallen in our district over the past year.
“As our shared enforcement partnership with Rugby Borough Council only started in October, we are unable to attribute the drop to this.
“We are however confident that our new joint approach which gives us greater powers to take enforcement action against the perpetrators of littering and fly-tipping will have a positive impact.”
Incidents of fly-tipping in Rugby borough actually went up – from 865 to 1,073. They also rose by ten in Stratford district which saw 291 incidents.
The joint approach between the Warwick and Rugby councils is being trialled for 18 months.
