Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Environment and Neighbourhoods. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Environment.]

To agree a strategy to tackle fly-tipping in the Borough.

The Cabinet Member for Environment introduced the report which sought Cabinet to adopt the Fly Tipping Strategy 2019 – 2024 and note the Action Plan for 2019-2020.

The Cabinet Member was delighted to introduce the strategy and informed it would mitigate against the adverse effects of fly-tipping on the community and environment.

The Cabinet Member praised the efforts of the community in working against fly tipping, specifically Tidy Up Tottenham, and looked forward to working with more local groups in the future to combat fly tipping in Haringey.

In response to questions from Cllr Ejiofor and Cllr Palmer, the following information was noted:

• The Cabinet Member confirmed that enforcement was as much a part of the Fly Tipping Strategy as education.
• The Cabinet Member informed there would be a number of staff already employed by the Council who would be involved in the delivery of the strategy, not just the proposed project manager who would co-ordinate the delivery of the plan.

RESOLVED

1. To adopt the Fly Tipping Strategy 2019 – 2024 attached at appendix 1

2. To note the Action Plan for 2019-2020 attached at appendix 2.

Reasons for decision

A fly tip is rubbish left on the street (or other land) without arrangements for its collection and without agreement with the council. A small proportion of fly tips in Haringey is left by illegal waste collectors (just 4%) – the vast majority (83%) is household waste, often presented in the wrong place and/or at the wrong time. The remaining 13% of fly tips is from local businesses. Of the fly tips that are household waste, nearly half are carrier bags or black bin bags and over a quarter is furniture.

Last year (2017/18), Haringey received reports of 24,000 fly tips and a similar level is projected for 2018/19. The cost to Haringey’s tax payers to collect fly tipping is over £3 million per year. This has a wider impact on the council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy, and the council’s ability to provide other vital services to our residents.

Haringey’s Borough Plan has made a firm commitment to reducing the levels of fly tipping in the borough, as part of the Place Priority. Our ambition is for a borough which is cleaner, accessible and attractive. We know from our 2018 Resident Satisfaction Survey that cleanliness is a top priority for residents (11% of residents saying this makes a difference to their day to day quality of life), second only to safety (13%). 

The Fly Tipping Strategy sets out an approach using three strands, to be   delivered through a series of ‘hot spot’ targeted locations (see section 6.11):

• Education, communication and early intervention
• Prevention of recurrence
• Targeted enforcement

The approach in the draft Strategy has been defined over a five year period          using existing resources across the Waste Client Team, Enforcement, Communications and our waste contractor Veolia.

Alternative options considered

Do nothing. There is clear ambition in Haringey for a cleaner environment, as captured in the new Borough Plan’s ‘Place’ Priority. Doing nothing to tackle the issue of fly tipping would not be consistent with this level of ambition.

The recommended approach. This is set within business as usual activity and requires a minimal investment in staff resources. The approach is expected to deliver the reduction in fly tip levels and increase in resident satisfaction over a five year period. A Project Manager is required to co-ordinate delivery of the plan, and it is planned for this cost to be shared with Veolia and mitigated within existing budgets. A capital application of £150K over five years will be made for making small works to the streetscene to design out fly tip hot spots. This option allows for a sustained effort, supported by Corporate Communications and our waste contractors Veolia, over a period of time, which will give sufficient time to embed behaviour change in our communities.

Accelerated approach. This alternative model would accelerate the reduction of fly tipping in the borough using an enhanced communications campaign and more enforcement. This approach would be high profile and would aim to deliver reductions in fly tipping in the borough over two years instead of five.  This would be delivered through an increased focus on behaviour change and enforcement. To deliver this option, dedicated resources will be needed above those in the five year approach. The total cost for this option would be £945K over two years and for this reason it is not recommended.