“Enough is enough” — That’s the message from the Isle of Wight Council as plans for a no-nonsense approach to littering and fly-tipping start to take shape.
In the week the authority unveiled a summer crackdown on littering, decisive action has been promised to combat the growing problem of littering which is blighting our towns, villages and countryside.
According to the Council, fly-tipping has not seen a significant increase in recent years but that any fly-tip is 1 too many. Anecdotally, Islanders have been sharing concerns on social media about the apparent rise in fly-tipping with barely a day going by without another sofa or pile of black bags being discovered.
Leading the charge for change is the Cabinet member for the environment and waste, Councillor Jonathan Bacon, who last week chaired the first meeting of a cross-party task and finish group formed to tackle the unsightly menace. He said the aim of the group was clear — to produce a full action plan to deliver meaningful improvement and a change in behaviours to reduce littering and tackle wider waste and fly tip issues which concern so many Island communities.
Many Islanders have said that the problem stems from the now-restrictive opening hours of Lynbottom Tip. Historically it was open 7 days a week, from 07:00 to dusk. The tip is now only open from 10:00-18:00 each day with pre-booking still in force.
Councillor Bacon has said:
“The island is a special and unique place blessed with areas of outstanding natural beauty, granted UNESCO Biosphere Status and numerous Sites of Special Scientific Interest, conservation areas, historic towns, and unique and protected wildlife.
Article continues below this advertisement “As we can see, the Island is being polluted by a minority of individuals who do not have sufficient care for the Island.
“The amount of littering and fly tips, including litter dropped from cars in the countryside, along our coastline, in our town centres and in our carparks, is simply unacceptable.
“Litter and fly-tipping is environmental vandalism. It blights neighbourhoods and the countryside, is a threat to local wildlife and livestock, is a source of pollution and a danger to public health.
“We need a proactive and coordinated approach to ensure our Island is kept clean, and wherever possible those who litter and those who fly tip are identified and suitable action is taken against them.
Over the coming months, the group of 11 councillors, supported by senior managers from the neighbourhoods team, will develop a rolling action plan to reduce fly-tipping and littering through community engagement, education, innovation and a review of enforcement.
In the meantime, the council is taking steps to help ensure the Island is looking at its best during the peak holiday season by launching a summer litter prevention campaign to highlight how we can all, in our own small way, help to keep our beautiful Island tidy.
Councillor Bacon added:
“We’ve made our position clear on this matter. Enough is enough. We simply won’t tolerate fly-tipping and littering on the Island and our new task and finish group will be looking at how we can reduce instances of both.
“I see this as a positive step in restoring pride in the community and educating people to learn the rules — from the smaller issues of dropping litter to the bigger problem of fly tipping. Together, let’s keep our beautiful Island tidy.”
The task and finish group is due to bring forward a detailed report later in the year.
Good luck with that rhetoric. This is from a department that for years still can’t even get bins off the pavement in North Road Shanklin.
pathetic posturing and rhetoric. Nothing else.
Councillor Bacon has said:
………..
really – then stop allowing houses to be built all over it – bacon
Hmmm, interesting…
How easy does IOW council make it for individuals to dispose of their waste, if they are not to end-up fly tipping it ?
Always a correlation between awkward / expensive waste disposal facilities and fly tipping.
Are you sure the approach should be to tackle the outcome, not the cause ?
Hmm..
Doesn’t mean they should just go and dump it on someone else’s land!
Another task force?…similar to the iow police commissioner’s idea to tackle unsociable behaviour on the island….
This is all good sounding words, a lot of that type of words keeps coming out of that building, but i wouldn’t be surprised if very little actually gets done.
Open the tips up for more hours please.
I agree, half day opening & booking to go the tip cannot have helped matters
It’s no hardship booking a time slot online. I’ve done it many times. Social distancing had to be adhered to so numbers had to be staggered. This doesn’t give skanks the right to dump whatever wherever they like.
how’s it no hardship? a lot of people work. The tip opens after people go to work and close before people finish work
just the same is the library’s.
You clearly don’t work full time. This arguement is for people busy from 10am-6pm. These so called skanks probably have a job. Why make it so hard to dump rubbish? Shall i lose a days pay to get rid of the plastic coverings i never wanted?
My elderly friend has stuff he can’t get rid of, he doesn’t drive, neither do i. but neither of us would dream of just dumping it on someone else’s land or littering up the countryside. These fly tippers just make excuses for their bad behaviour. Skanks is right. All the wonderful upright citizens who have to work are so wonderful they can’t hang onto their rubbish before they can find a more suitable way to dispose of it? My friend has an old fridge in his garden, (cfc long since gone out of it) its back end is uppermost and useful for outdoor potted plants to stand on and now quite decorative outside his back door.
You wanna do something well, learn from those who do it well.
There are other council’s who have been really cracked down on littering and tipping.
Give them a call Mr Bacon, might save you a lot of time and effort.
There is two types of flytippers. The people who take away commercial waste from people and don’t want to pay to get rid of it. And then the people who are annoyed when they can’t get into the tip to dispose if it. The latter could easily be addressed by early/late opening of the tip… doesn’t need to be every day, just a couple a week. The other people who take it away and don’t want to pay to get rid of it will only stop when they are heavily fined/shamed into it. They are the ones who should be focused upon day in day out. There should be constant use of covert cameras in certain areas.
The penalty for fly tipping is an unlimited fine or up to five years in prison. This is adequate
All that needs to be done is to dole our maximum punishments when
someone is caught. Not a pathetic dilution of these maxima
A few months ago two cars met up on the Ryde exit of the racecourse roundabout in a very dangerous position anyway. That annoyed me as it was an accident risk
The man and woman got out and were clearly up to something , they then drove off and she tossed some rubbish on to the road.
I had dash cam footage and contacted the Police and the Council. Neither were interested though the Police did say it was not their responsibility !
Like many things including escooter misuse – unless the law is enforced nothing will change.
Our law adequately covers many problem areas but needs enforcing to send out the right message. Otherwise why are the laws in place.
Perhaps Cllr Jonathan Bacon would like your dash cam footage.
the council are getting it wrong –
open up the tips all day long for any waste..commercial or household free of charge.
no more fly tipping and no more wasted time.
invest heavily in recycling plants, tech and processes – to reduce landfill further.
If it is anything like the IW Transport Board allowing our ferry services to get worse not better we can look forward to a massive increase in fly tipping!
What does ‘Ancodoately’ mean 🙂
The Tip on the island is a nightmare and doubly so now there is appointments.
That coupled with (in my experience) a few rude staff (some are excellent) and that speed bump at the top of their road that grounds out my car makes a journey to the tip a real damaging and unpleasant nuisance.
The simple solution is make it easier to access and open it up longer so people can go after work.
It will just be the commercial bill dodgers to pursue then.
Council reduces tip opening times and forces people to book a slot and not allow a rebook for a number of weeks, reduces the emptying of public refuse bins so most are always overflowing and then complain that people start fly tipping or dropping litter – the good old public sector bureaucrats, take your money, do as little as possible in return then look at ways of covering up the result of their deliberate policies by blaming, punishing and penalising the public – it is the civil service way
Not just the civil service Bryan – it’s the Conservative way!
Get lots of money for doing very little and blame everybody else – after all, it pleases the shareholders and Conservative donors
Spot on!
To take stuff to the tip, I had to book a time and day. This caused me a lot of stress because you know what our roads can be like. You just do not know if you will be stuck in taffic. I set off early and arrived 30 mins earlier than booked, then I worried that I would not be allowed in till my slot. However I did not have to wait. It was very quiet and not the mayhem it usally is. They were aware of my disabilites and had a member of staff to help me. In all it was one of the best trips there I’ve experianced.
The only downside you have to book and make sure you get there around that time, but its was more chilled, so take your pick.
Good. We need some firm, desisive action to catch these people who think it’s ok to dump crap in the countryside or wherever they choose. Hope these people are caught and given a very, very hefty fine and community service, cleaning the streets of rubbish and dog mess.
Get a grip. Some but admittedly not all. Don’t have a choice unless losing a days pay to dump the rubbish they didnt ask for
Littering needs to be dealt with quickly and firmly. Teach school children dropping litter is unacceptable. Dealing with it now is more difficult. How will litter bugs be caught and dealt with? A hefty fine? Hope we some action and this is not just talk.
This country is a disgrace anyway when it comes to littering. People complain about countries like North Korea, but their streets are spotless. And Japan certainly has hardly any littering, it is considered disrespectful and antisocial. The children tidy up their classrooms, in this country that would be almost considered child abuse and against their ‘human rights’.
Got turned away the other day with a truck full of rubbish as i had lost my “scratch card” to prove how many times i had been.
1)The card takes 10 working days to turn up. What was i meant to do with that rubbish for 10 days now?
2) Even if i had the card but had run out of scratchy allowances what would i do now?
3) Great idea to blame covid again for a drop of standards i.e open during a working mans work hours (10am-6pm)
Haven’t done it yet but i say good on fly tippers for making a stand. These brain deads pulling the strings need to actually use logic rather than penalising people.
This is well over due! So why doesn’t the Isle of Wight Council set up a few sting operations.
All they need to do is secretly use some “Smart Water” on some old mattresses or tyres etc, then call in the operators they may have their suspicions on and get them to take the rubbish away.
When a new fly tip has been located check to see if the items have the “Smart Water” on them, if so, busted.
By using “Smart Water” it should be more than enough to use in a court for prosecution as well.