A new specialist ‘enviro-crime team’ could be brought in to tackle fly-tipping in South Holland.
It’s hoped the private team would use cameras and foot patrols to deter people from using the area as a dumping ground and provide more prosecutions.
A recent Freedom of Information request by members of the Spalding Wombles litter group found that South Holland District Council had made no prosecutions against fly-tippers throughout 2021, while nearby Boston Borough Council secured 25 prosecutions in six months.
That authority currently has an enviro-crime team and now it’s being proposed to roll it out across the entire South and East Lincolnshire Local Partnership, including South Holland.
Coun Anthony Casson, SHDC’s portfolio holder for public protection, said Boston’s record for prosecutions was “absolutely” the reason for working towards an ‘enviro-crime team’ operating in the area, but stressed that the details of how it would work in South Holland are yet to be finalised.
“It’s something we are very keen to do,” he said. “Boston has been doing it for a few years and it seems to have been working well, so it makes sense for us and East Lindsey to build on that.
“We’ve only just started on the specifics for how it will work in South Holland as our area has different challenges to other areas.
“I sincerely hope we do something though.”
A meeting of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership last week heard an ‘enviro-crime team’ that would cover all three districts was hoped to be in place “by the spring”.
Martin Foster, the portfolio holder for operational services at East Lindsey District Council, said: “We’re working on an enviro-crime enforcement team as a joint venture.
“That’s going out to private companies to tender with the aim that all three sovereign councils will then be able to carry out enforcement with a private team in place.
“We’ll tweak those according to each council’s needs and requirements.
“That’s going to be in place for the spring of this year, so hopefully all three councils will benefit from that.
“We’re putting a framework together at the moment.
“We’re aiming to look at things like fly-tipping using overt cameras and foot patrols.”
When questioned as to whether the three councils’ proposals were in line with the guidance being worked on by the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership as a whole, he responded that he “not concerned we will suddenly have a different enforcement regime in three councils that’s out of step with what everyone else is working towards.”
It was reported last year South Holland District Council had purchased cameras to help with fly-tipping enforcement, but it had been unable to use them yet.
Coun Roger Gambba-Jones, SHDC’s portfolio holder for environmental services, said: “The key to using the cameras, be it covert or overt, is to get the expertise in so it is used effectively.
“We’ll look to keep our autonomy but it’s an opportunity to adapt locally while we’re dealing with local issues in a way that suits local people’s needs.
“It’s something we’re looking at very actively.”
