The staggering increase meant fly-tipped rubbish was being reported 20 times a day during March, an increase from the average 13 reports a day seen across the year.
Fly-tipping became a hot topic in MK’s recent local elections. The local Conservatives pledged to wage a war against fly-tipping and promised to increase CCTV numbers to combat hotspots, end the tip-booking system and begin a temporary waste amnesty which would have included temporary community skips and waiving of bulky collection charges.
Recently, The Parks Trust have pleaded for members of the public to report incidents of fly-tipping in local green spaces. They estimate that over the last year it has cost them £350,000 to deal with the increasing incidents of removing fly-tipping and littering in local green spaces.
The Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition controlling MK Council are now having to face their first real challenge in coalition together. As fly-tipping figures spiral out of control, residents will be seeking assurances on what measures will be taken to keep MK’s green spaces clean and tidy.
Cllr Alex Walker, Leader of the Conservative Group, said:
“Fly-tipping came up on the doorstep a lot during the election and residents were rightly frustrated with the Council’s lacklustre and lazy approach to reducing fly-tipping in MK.
The figures revealed from March are awful and Labour’s record on reducing fly-tipping in MK is nothing to be proud of.
We promised to wage a war on fly-tipping in our campaign and the residents backed us, the new coalition must now get a grip on the issue before we see even more record-breaking months.”
ENDS
Editor’s notes:
Figures for fly-tipping incidents recorded in the months Jan-March ‘21
Jan – 447
Feb – 437
Mar – 631
Total Q4 – 1515
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