This week’s Frome Times reports:

‘The problem of fly-tipping in Frome has been highlighted as part of a BBC documentary.

BBC Inside Out West investigated the problems surrounding fly-tipping, showing Gypsy Lane in Frome as a hot-spot for dumping rubbish.Fly-tipping is the illegal act of leaving waste on public or private land. As part of the BBC documentary, presenter Alistair McKee looked at the effects of fly-tipping around Somerset. The documentary showed roads around Frome that have waste dumped illegally and went on to show that fly-tipping is a county-wide issue.

Cllr Adam Boyden Mendip district councillor for Frome College Ward, has campaigned  to have the recycling centres re-opened in a bid to combat fly-tipping. He says that the  problem has become worse since Somerset County Council reduced opening hours to recycling centres across the county. He said, “Fly-tipping is obviously a problem in Frome and it needs to be sorted.  “When household waste recycling centres were closed two and a half days a week, and charges were introduced for recycling hardcore, tiles and tyres, fly-tipping as a whole went up by 50 per cent across Somerset. Cllr Sam Phripp and I put a motion to Mendip together and started a petition last year to ask that Somerset County Council think again about its cuts to recycling centres. The fuss we and others made at the time helped persuade the county council not to cut recycling further this year.”’

See http://www.frometimes.co.uk/?p=3228 for the original article.   The Inside Out West programme  included interviews with a local farmer and a B&B owner, and with ward Councillor Peter Knibbs (Con, Beckington and Selwood), who promised action – see  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01qzfy2/Inside_Out_West_25_02_2013/

My full response to the Frome Times is repeated below:

“The problem at Gypsy Lane is a particularly bad one and is rightly highlighted in the BBC One Inside Out West documentary.  I will leave the ward councillor and the Cabinet member responsible for this issue to explain how Mendip District Council is hoping to tackle this particular issue. But I also think it’s really important that everyone knows that they can help stop flytipping everywhere, as it has become more of a problem since the Conservatives running the county council made cuts to recycling in April 2011.

Firstly, if people see or suspect any flytipping, particularly in the country lanes around Frome, they should report it to Mendip District Council on 01749 648999 and ask to be put through to the Enforcement team, and also ask that the council’s contractors come and clear it away.  At Gypsy Lane the contractors clear up regularly anyway, but council officers always need to know the situation on the ground. 

Secondly, if people hire builders, landscape gardeners or other contractors to clear waste from their properties, people should be aware that only use contractors who have a waste carrier registration, as I think it is likely to be unregistered ‘cowboys’ who are flytipping around Frome. People should ask their contractor for their waste carrier registration number, and a quick call to the Environment Agency on 0370 8506506 will confirm whether your contractor has the proper waste carrier registration.  If your contractor is not registered, people should refuse their services and find someone who isn’t likely to flytip. People have been prosecuted for giving their waste to contractors who then flytip it, as the householder is still responsible for it.

Thirdly, people can take an interest and join the campaign for our councils to tackle the problem. I and Sam Phripp put a motion to Mendip together and started a petition last year to ask that Somerset County Council think again about its cuts to recycling centres, as since April 2011 when household waste recycling centres were closed two and a half days a week, and charges were introduced for recycling hardcore, tiles and tyres, flytipping as a whole went up by 50% across Somerset (20% across Mendip). The fuss we and others made at the time helped persuade the county council not to cut recycling further this year. I also understand that if the Lib Dems take control of the county council in May, they will reverse the cuts to recycling so we hope to see our recycling centres open every day once again, which will help reduce flytipping. So if people think our environment is important. they can vote for it in May.”

Commercial waste

Also, much of the waste flytipped around Frome and elsewhere in Mendip is ‘commercial’ waste, and none of the household waste recycling centres in Somerset accept commercial waste (unlike some others in England). Business Recycling Sites are available where businesses can take their waste for recycling or disposal, including builders, plumbers and gardeners who work in different places – http://www.somersetwaste.gov.uk/business/sites/. The nearest site to Frome within Somerset is in Evercreech.  So I have been asking the Somerset Waste Partnership to look into providing a site that accepts commercial waste to help make it easier to recycle and legally dispose of this type of waste. 

Somerset Waste Partnership replied: “In 2010/11 we had an externally funded business recycling advisor who did a great deal of work publicising the availability of sites to commercial customers, especially via chambers of commerce etc although this did not result in an increase in use. We are now working with Viridor to see if we can (a) improve the offering to trade at existing sites where we are set up to accept this material and (b) offer the service more widely if demand can be demonstrated through (a).  
Frome Recycling Centre was high on our list of sites for expansion a few years ago but an application for permission to expand was blocked by adjacent residents (at rear of site) on grounds of additional noise impact. We have no capital programme at all now so sadly relocation to a bigger site is not an option even if one could be found – which was also an issue going back when funding was available.”

I will be asking for progress to be made on improving  commercial waste services in the area, and for a capital programme to improve recycling centres, as these would help increase recycling and reduce flytipping. 

See  my previous post on flytipping and links to the county’s cuts to recycling:  http://adamboyden.mycouncillor.org.uk/2013/01/17/flytipping-in-somerset-still-50-higher-than-before/