Local authority leaders have called on the Government to ‘urgently streamline’ the process for prosecuting fly-tippers.
The Local Government Association (LGA) have welcomed Whitehall’s decision to allow councils to apply fixed penalty notices to fly-tippers.
However, they said the courts and prosecution processes should be streamlined to allow councils to recover their costs quickly.
Under the current system, local authorities have to cover the costs of prosecuting fly-tippers.
The fines from a successful prosecution are then paid directly to the court before going to the council.
This can take years which means authorities potentially can face losing money in the short term for a successful prosecution.
‘Councils are determined to protect local environments,’ said Cllr Martin Tett, the LGA’s environment spokesman.
‘New fixed penalty notice powers from the Government will help but every single conviction for more serious fly-tipping offences still results in council taxpayers having to pick up the bill.
‘We need to make sure that when councils take offenders to court, a faster, more effective legal system ensures that serious fly-tipping offences result in hard-hitting fines.’
The estimated cost to taxpayers of clearing up fly-tipping rose to £57m over the last year - an increased of 13%.
The LGA has calculated the amount of waste being fly-tipped across England each year could stretch from London to Moscow.
