Suspended prison sentence for North Norfolk fly-tipper

Swaffham man Duncan Walter Johnstone was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with the requirement to undertake 60 hours unpaid work within 12 months, at Norwich Magistrates on 12 January, after he pleaded guilty to fly-tipping offences. He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £242, which was the cost North Norfolk District Council (NNDC), which brought the prosecution, had to pay for clearing the fly-tipped waste.

Johnstone was found guilty of fly-tipping a small tipper lorry-load of waste on a quiet lane in Neatishead, sometime between 13 and 26 November 2010. The waste came from a housing renovation project. A member of the public who spotted the abandoned pile of rubbish reported it to NNDC’s Environmental Protection team. Council investigators found personal details amongst the waste which led them to a property in Happisburgh. Further investigations by council officers led them to Duncan Johnstone, who was arrested in October 2011 following work involving Norfolk Constabulary’s Operations Radar Team, the Environment Agency and NNDC Environmental Protection officers.

NNDC Cabinet Member for Localism and Legal Services, Cllr. Trevor Ivory, said: “The cost of clearing-up fly-tipping is a major burden for landowners and council taxpayers, on top of the blight that fly-tipping can cause local communities. North Norfolk District Council has a zero tolerance approach to people who fly-tip and I am delighted that the courts share our concern. Hopefully the threat of a prison sentence will make people tempted to fly-tip think again."

Notes:

0 The illegal deposit of waste on land, otherwise known as fly-tipping, can vary in scale and type of waste involved. However, in all instances it is anti-social behaviour that can cause pollution to the environment and harm to human health. It is an environmental crime which spoils local neighbourhoods and causes a local nuisance which can reduce the respect and pride in an area and attract further deposits of waste.
0 Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 relates to the Prohibition on unauthorised or harmful depositing, treatment or disposal etc of waste.
0 Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 relates to Duty of Care etc as respects waste. This requires businesses to prevent the escape of waste from their control or that of any other person and, on the transfer of waste, to secure that the transfer is only to an authorised person and, that there is a transfer note providing a written description of the waste.
0 Norfolk County Council provides 19 household recycling centres across the county where local residents can legally recycle and dispose of their household waste free of charge. If residents have questions about what they can and can’t take, site locations, opening times and for other information they can either email Norfolk County Council at recycling@norfolk.gov.uk or call 0344 800 8020.
0 The Fly Capture national database published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shows that, in the last 12 months, local authorities dealt with 861,000 fly-tipping incidents, at an estimated cost of £41.3 million to clear. It is important to note that these incidents do not include those which are dealt with by private landowners who are victims of this crime, which can cost them large amounts of money in removing the waste.
0 Householders wishing to dispose of waste must make sure that whoever they give their waste to is licensed to take it away. You can check if a waste collector is registered by looking at the environmental agency website. Failure to check that the person is licensed to take waste is an offence under the Waste (Household Waste Duty of Care) (England & Wales) Regulations 2005, which carries a maximum fine upon conviction of £5,000.

0 If anyone has witnessed fly-tipping and would like to report it, please contact the Environmental Protection Team at North Norfolk District Council on 01263 516085.

ENDS