Agenda item

(a)   Question from Mr. Chris Nowak to Councillor Chris McGuinness, Cabinet Member for Communities, Voluntary Sector and the Environment:-

“Why is the Council allowing fly tipping of household waste/items to happen on a regular basis in the alleyways behind/between houses in Hyde Park, Balby, Hexthorpe and other areas?  This is not the first time this has happened in these areas and I know it will not be the last because the Council’s response is ineffectual and the people doing this are aware of this.  When are Doncaster Council going to get tough with this and use the powers at their disposal to end this health hazard?”

(A)      Question from Mr. C. J. Nowak to Councillor Chris McGuinness, Cabinet Member for Communities, Voluntary Sector and the Environment:-

“Why is the Council allowing fly tipping of household waste/items to happen on a regular basis in the alleyways behind/between houses in Hyde Park, Balby, Hexthorpe and other areas?  This is not the first time this has happened in these areas and I know it will not be the last because the Council’s response is ineffectual and the people doing this are aware of this.  When are Doncaster Council going to get tough with this and use the powers at their disposal to end this health hazard?”

In the absence of Councillor Chris McGuinness, Councillor Joe Blackham, Cabinet Member for Highways, Street Scene and Trading Services, gave the following response:-

“Doncaster Council does not and has never allowed fly tipping of any sort.  Fly tipping is a blight, not only on the countryside of Doncaster, but also on our urban streets.

The Enforcement Team utilise all environmental enforcement tools available to tackle littering and fly tipping, including the more recently introduced Fixed Penalty Notices for fly tipping and Duty of Care offences.  Within this, the Council utilise the maximum penalty for fly-tipping offences of £400.  Between April and December 2019, over 3,200 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued by this Authority.

It is the responsibility of all Doncaster residents to combat fly tipping, by ensuring we get rid of waste through the appropriate channels and there is no excuse for fly tipping.  We will investigate every instance of fly tipping and we will follow through to prosecution where we can.

We have recently invested in specific cameras in and around the Borough, as part of our tactics to investigate fly tipping offences. Cameras have been deployed in various areas of the Borough and will continue to be utilised.

We are committed to tackling this matter in the Borough and we will communicate our successful convictions to also act as a deterrent.  I ask that Councillors and residents alike, report fly tipping as and when they see it.

It needs to be noted that over 900 hours of additional work was recently carried out by the Enforcement Team supporting our flooded communities, during which time, their standard work was not completed as it would normally be.  Also, due to the flooding, only 50% of planned Street Cleansing was completed during November and December.  I ask that communities bear with us as we catch up with both our pro-active and re-active street cleansing programmes.

As part of the Council’s budget for the financial year 2020/21, we will be allocating further financial resources to Street Scene in order to tackle our Cleaner, Greener, Safer, Stronger Agenda.”

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.10, Mr. Nowak asked Councillor Joe Blackham, the following supplementary question:-

“Thank you for the reply you have just given to my question.  There are a couple of points that I would like to highlight.  The first one is that you say between April and December 2019, there were over 3,200 Fixed Penalty Notices issued.  On the 3rd January this year, DMBC, on its social media page, said that there were 51 Fixed Penalty Notices issued between April and December of last year.  There is a bit of a difference from 3,200.  I did ask how many of these have been paid, but I am still waiting for a reply.

The cameras are a good idea.  Hopefully, they will be in the areas of Hyde Park and Hexthorpe as highlighted. 

Regarding the flooding, yes, that must take priority, but the fly tipping of household waste, etc. has been happening for a long, long time before the flooding occurred.  The last question that I want to ask is, the people and residents of Doncaster pay their Council Tax and rates on a regular basis, and they are having to live with household waste being dumped which attracts, flies, rats and cockroaches, etc.  How long would any Member of Council be prepared to have this outside their back doorstep.  How long would they wait for the Council to actually do something to stop it happening?”

Councillor Joe Blackham gave the following reply:-

“I find it totally unacceptable that people have had to endure what they have had to endure.  However, it is not Doncaster Council that does the fly tipping, it is the residents that live in the area where this fly tipping occurs.  Hence the request, whether it be a Councillor or resident that sees fly tipping occurring, is to actually report it into the system so that positive action can be taken.  When we address fly tipping and pick the issues up, we actually check to see whether there is any evidence trail that can be taken back to the people who actually cause the fly tipping.  I can assure you that it is not only occurring down the back alleys around Hexthorpe.  I live at Thorne and Moorends, and there is fly tipping routinely taking place throughout the area, and it does not matter which Councillor or which Council area in this Authority, they will all see the same thing.  Fly tipping is a plague across this Borough.  It needs to be addressed.  Regrettably, the last few months have seen significant slippage in our ability to address those issues, but we intend to reinforce our efforts and the amount of physical and fiscal resources available to actually address the issue.”