Tackling fly-tips is a 24-hour business. I’ve introduced a new service in Harrow that’s helping us to get out to reports of illegal dumps more quickly, even when most people are tucked up in bed.
Last week I read in the paper that the first Friday of the year would be ‘fly-tipping Friday’. This was because the extra rubbish from over the Christmas and New Year holiday season would cause more people to consider fly-tipping – well, I say ‘rubbish’!
I think it’s a shame that we could become so used to the problems of illegal dumping, that it could get its own day. Fly-tipping is illegal and totally unacceptable. It is all of our problem and we all have a duty to dispose of our waste properly - there can never be any excuse for fly-tipping.
In Harrow we’ve stepped up our service and reduced the amount of time it takes between the reporting of a fly-tip and a team going out to investigate and clear it. Investigation is really important, because that’s how we catch the dumpers; by finding clues as to where the waste come from and tracing it back to whoever dumped it. We want to find the people that are making this mess, and take them to court.
That’s how we caught Philip Cash, a professional fly-tipper operating in Harrow, who, thanks to the hard work of my colleagues, got a two-year suspended prison sentence at the end of last year, a driving ban and an electronic tag. I think we’ll all agree, he got what he deserved.
Clearing the fly-tips away is of course every bit as important. A quick response shows that as a council we care and that, in our part of London, we’re committed to keeping on top of this national problem. People are more likely to feel positive about their communities and more likely to report fly-tips when they see that we’re responding quickly and taking action.
And that’s why we now clear fly-tips right through the night, as well as the day. Behind the scenes at Harrow Council, we call the colleagues responsible ‘night riders’. Nothing to do with the 80s TV show, just hard-working council officers doing their bit to make Harrow clean again. And you can do your bit too, by reporting any fly-tips you see – in Harrow, just go to www.harrow.gov.uk/environment
