Fly tipping
Four businesses – based in Burnt Oak and Mill Hill – have been handed a total of 68 fixed penalty notices, totalling £18,480, for multiple fly tipping offences – breaching their duties to responsibly dispose of trade waste under the Environmental Protection Act.
Thanks to the council’s eagle-eyed CCTV operators, the businesses were recorded dumping commercial waste (including food, cardboard and other rubbish inside black bin bags) onto the public highway near their premises on multiple occasions. The council’s enforcement team then followed up with each business, interviewing them under caution and presenting them with the evidence of their staff illegally dumping waste. Each of the businesses accepted the fines.
The latest enforcement action is part of the council’s Caring for Our Places campaign which aims to raise awareness of the blight of fly tipping on the borough and increase public reporting of fly tipping offences. The campaign hopes to reduce fly tipping in the borough and make Barnet a zero tolerance borough for people who think it’s acceptable to illegally dump waste on the public highway or in open spaces.
Councillor Alan Schneiderman, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said: “Here in Barnet, we are a council that cares for people and our places, and that means clamping down hard on anyone suspected of fly tipping and damaging the environment – working across enforcement and collection to ensure we keep the borough clean and issue fixed penalty notices to those who break the law. Fly tippers will be tracked down and punished if they dump waste anywhere in Barnet.”
Councillor Sara Conway, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Participation, added: “These fines show the impact of our investment in CCTV. I would like to thank the community safety team for their diligent work in identifying and taking action against these businesses.”
Members of the public can report instances of fly tipping or individuals that are believed to be illegally dumping waste at www.barnet.gov.uk/reportit.
ENDS
NB. As the businesses mentioned here have been given fixed penalty notices rather than being prosecuted or taken to court, the council is not able to name them.