Northumberland fly-tipping enforcement under fire as number of offenders punished revealed

Northumberland County Council needs more enforcement action to tackle fly-tipping, a leading councillor has admitted.

Figures provided by the council show that 13 people have been prosecuted in the last two years, while a further 20 are currently going through the legal system. It comes after the council increased fly-tipping fines from £400 to £1,000 earlier this year.

There were 4,429 incidents of fly-tipping in the county last year. Speaking at Wednesday's meeting of the county council, Coun Georgina Hill quizzed members of the Conservative administration on the issue.

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She said: "In the last two years, how many people have been prosecuted for fly-tipping? How many of those have led to fines?

"Are you satisfied that Northumberland County Council is doing all it realistically can do to prevent and reduce fly-tipping? Do you have any comments more generally on enforcement which is considered inadequate."

Cabinet member for communities Coun Gordon Stewart responded: "We have seen 13 people prosecuted and 20 others are in the legal system in one form or another. There have been 113 fixed penalty notices issued.

"I would praise officers and communities for the work they are doing. We could do with some more enforcement.

"I would like to see communities contacting us with more decent information. Most reports are in the south east of the county and I would commend the town councils in these areas for the work they are doing."

The fines were increased to the statutory maximum of £1,000 in a bid to increase the financial risk and strengthen the deterrent to potential offenders. The fines were rolled out alongside a "hard hitting" publicity campaign focusing on the personal risks to offenders and to make it even less acceptable and riskier to fly-tip.

At the time, the council said it was setting an "ambitious" target of reducing fly-tipping incidents by 20% by March 2026.