This week I led an important debate in the Houses of Parliament on fly-tipping.
Over the past few months and years this has been one of the issues that has come up most in my discussions with constituents on the doorstep and in meetings. Fly-tipping is the dumping of waste illegally in our streets and on our green spaces.
I am calling on Croydon Council and the government to take a stand and start treating fly-tipping seriously.
Croydon Council should take immediate action to address this problem by implementing these three key measures:
1. Mega Skip Days. Provide freely available skips on certain days of the year so residents can get rid of unwanted items for free.
2. Fly-tipper’s Wall of Shame. Use roaming CCTV to capture and publicise images of fly-tippers with posters around hotspot areas. We should also make sure harsh penalties and fines are enforced.
3. Fly-tipping Strategy. Develop a fly-tipping strategy for Croydon to tackle the problem across the borough, work in partnership with local people, and use existing powers more effectively.
The health and beauty of our community is at stake here; we cannot afford to ignore this issue any longer. It’s time for Croydon Council to step up its efforts against fly-tippers who are ruining our environment.
In 2022/23, there were 22,852 incidents of fly-tipping in Croydon and 10 fixed penalty notices issued by Croydon Council. This means that Croydon is the second easiest place to fly-tip and get away with it fine-free. We need to act and reverse this trend.
This links into Labour’s wider policy of making our streets safe by tackling anti-social behaviour with an action plan to prevent crime, punish criminals and protect communities. But we should not have to wait for a Labour government for fly-tipping to be acted on.
I am conducting a survey to hear more about your experiences of fly-tipping and what you want to see being done about it. To fill it in please follow this link: https://forms.gle/wM5gWJu7MssGeWMx5.
I will also be launching a petition to Croydon Council in the early stages of next week, so please sign-up for that if you can.