𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour has been urged to end the injustice of farmers left footing the bill for criminals’ waste after fly-tipping rocketed by 9% in a year. A coalition of rural campaign groups has come together after more than 1.2million cases were reported last year, continuing a year-on-year rise that critics say shows the crisis is out of control.

Victims, including farmers, are left to pick up the tab for removing rubbish and can even be fined for fly-tipped garbage on their land. William Westacott, a farmer in Berkshire, told ITV News it was “a drain on time and resources” to clear tyres, fridges and even bags of concrete left on his land while running a busy farm. Another farmer, Surrey-based Steve Conisbee, described seeing a lorry-load of tyres dumped on his land, telling the BBC: “It was obvious the rubbish in my ditch was from his van.”

Last month, peers in the House of Lords amended a government Bill to reverse the fines and unjust charges, but ministers have not confirmed if they will accept the changes.

Now the multi-group campaign, backed by the National Farmers Union, Countryside Alliance, Country Land Association, Clean Up Britain and the National Rural Crime Network, wants the duty to clear up the rubbish to be placed on local authorities, with action taken to recover the costs from criminals, not victims.

Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said the Government “has a real opportunity here to end the ridiculous current system in which farmers and rural people are penalised for being victims of waste crime”.

He urged ministers to accept the amendments. Doing so would “do much to repair the Government’s broken relationship with the countryside, showing rural communities that the Government does care about justice for the people who live and work there”, he said.

National Farmers Union vice-president Robyn Munt said that “private landowners are forced to shoulder the financial burden of waste crime”, which “forces farmland out of use, poses a threat to wildlife and places an unfair financial and emotional strain on British farmers and growers”.

Clean Up Britain’s John Reed said: “It is clear that the current system is failing.

“It is a basic injustice that a farmer or landowner who wakes up to find waste dumped on their property is then expected to pay for its removal.

“This letter represents a united front from rural, environmental and anti-litter organisations who rarely speak with one voice. When groups as diverse as ours agree that the system is broken, the Government should listen.”

Tim Passmore, chairman of the National Rural Crime Network, said: “Rural landowners are victims of fly-tipping, not perpetrators. The National Rural Crime Network insists the focus must be on catching criminals, not penalising those they target.”

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said that fly-tipping had gone “unpunished for too long”.

It has launched a waste crime action plan to hand new powers to enforcement officers to compel criminals to clean up their waste.