Estimated six-figure cost to taxpayers of tackling Hartlepool fly-tippers is revealed

Figures compiled by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) suggest that Hartlepool Borough Council spent more than £500,000 in less than a decade tackling the problem.

They state that the annual cost increased from £5,980 in 2011-12 to £141,250 in 2018-19 and reached £533,061 overall.

The number of major incidents – defined as requiring a tipper lorry to clear any mess – is also said to have risen from 19 to 134 over the same period and to 470 in total.

Hartlepool Borough Council said the authority was committed to keeping the borough “as clean and tidy as possible” and issued 19 fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping during 2019.

A spokesperson added: “Figures on Defra’s national database show that Hartlepool has the lowest incidence of reported fly-tipping of all the North-East local authorities and a large proportion of these incidents involve household waste being incorrectly disposed of in residential back streets.

“The figures referred to on the database are used by Defra, not the council, to model and estimate clearance costs for various levels of fly-tipping.

“The way figures are recorded on the database also reflects the way that we as an authority collect data from customers, in that when a fly-tipping incident is reported they are asked to estimate the amount of rubbish involved and the sort of vehicle that might be required to remove it.

“We are committed to keeping the borough of Hartlepool as clean and tidy as possible and staff work hard on a daily basis to tackle a range of environmental issues, including fly-tipping.

“A total of 19 fixed penalty notices were issued for fly-tipping between January and December 2019, and wherever possible when dealing with incidents we always try to recover our costs.

“Good quality information is vital in helping us to deal with those who fly-tip, and local residents can report incidents quickly and easily via our user-friendly online service at online.hartlepool.gov.uk or by calling our customer service team on (01429) 523333.”