We know that East Cambridgeshire District Council’s record on tackling fly-tipping in Sutton frankly isn’t that great. But how does our district council compare with others? The official league table of councils’ fly-tipping performance across England paints a less than impressive picture.
Comparing East Cambridgeshire and neighbouring South Cambridgeshire’s performance in 2011/2012, it appears that:
- South Cambridgeshire issued 18 warning letters, East Cambridgeshire none
- South Cambridgeshire issued 13 statutory notices, East Cambridgeshire none
- South Cambridgeshire issued 25 fixed penalty notices, East Cambridgeshire none
- South Cambridgeshire issued 10 formal cautions, East Cambridgeshire just one
- South Cambridgeshire mounted 13 prosecutions, East Cambridgeshire none
- South Cambridgeshire collected £5480 in fines for fly-tipping, East Cambridgeshire £0
At the very least, that’s a ‘must try harder’, East Cambs. Surely this is something our local councillors should be pressing the council to improve, and to fund properly? It is, after all, a pretty basic council responsibility to chase up and make an example of people who dump rubbish indiscriminately and spoil our local environment.
It isn’t just a case of spoiling our local countryside, but a case of health and safety! The travellers who have been using the hard-standings near the Machine Sales have used the drains as cesspits – the covers are currently off! – and the mess of previous encampments has been added to. Black sacks are piled on top of each other in multiplicity with evidence of animal scavenging. I’m sure there is a significant rat population, yet this is an area which holds an abundance of wildlife and has been a very popular walking place for Sutton and Mepal residents. It is no longer a safe place to walk a dog yet the council has not responded to the fly-tipping complaint. The unsafe rubbish piles remain. I think this is appalling.
Hi, Rebekah; thanks for your comments. I’ve been up to the Machine Sales today and had a couple of useful conversations, which I’ll pursue further on Monday with the various organisations.
The problem with this is that it’s private land. It’s awaiting occupation as a data centre, but the owners aren’t building yet as they are still trying to attract investment. This means firstly that the district council isn’t responsible for clearing fly-tipping, and the county council isn’t responsible for the drain covers. It means secondly that anyone on that site – including local dog walkers – is trespassing.
Camro’s representative says that the people who were temporarily on the land are council tenants, something that the council disputes. The council is willing to provide advice to the landowners.
The owners say the site is difficult to secure because of access rights to adjacent users, but basically it’s down to them to clear the rubbish, sort out the drains, and deal with unwanted traveller incursions.