The Government is encouraging local authorities to work with the police to seize and crush vehicles used by waste criminals as part of a crack-down on fly-tipping.
Councils currently pay the cost of seizing and storing vehicles that have been used in fly-tipping incidents.
However, the Government has launched a review to ‘slash red tape’ to ensure fly-tippers – rather than the taxpayer – will cover the bill.
Secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs, Steve Reed, said: ‘Waste criminals and fly-tippers who blight our towns and villages have gone unpunished for too long.
‘That ends today. The Government is calling time on fly-tipping. I will not stand by while this avalanche of rubbish buries our communities.’
Cllr Adam Hug, environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said: ‘Making it easier for councils to use existing powers to seize vehicles involved in fly-tipping is helpful, provided they can recover the full cost of doing so from perpetrators.’
He repeated the LGA’s call for a review of sentencing guidelines so that offenders can be given bigger fines, alongside maximum five-year sentences.
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