Fly Tipping in the North West – how to protect your land and business

The crime of fly-tipping has always been, and remains, a serious problem for businesses and other private landowners and one that has only gotten worse as time has gone on.

A report from the BBC has detailed the problems businesses face, with fly-tipping costing authorities over £60m in clean-up costs since 2012. It is now more common than ever to see incidents of fly tipping, with a rise in organised criminal gangs being blamed for the larger fly-tipping incidents.

The BBC report also detailed that:

• Large scale fly-tipping – defined as tipper lorry load or more in size – has more than doubled over the last six years.
• Last year, councils faced a £12.8m bill to clear more than 36,200 large tips.
• That accounted for more than a fifth of the overall cost of clearing fly-tips.
• Parts of London and Manchester have been the hardest hit

Why is this becoming a bigger issue?

The North West of the country seems to be one of the worst affected areas in the UK with fly-tipping incidents across the area costing councils an average of £7 million a year in clean-up costs.

Fly tipping isn’t just an issue for the councils of the North West however, as businesses and other private landowners, like farmers, are also being impacted. Not only does fly-tipping impact their land and premises but it can also mean additional costs to the business or landowner if they do not have the relevant insurance.

Another big issue that many may not think of at first glance is the environmental impact fly tipping is having. It compromises countryside’s, local animals and can even cause harm to humans as most waste which is dumped is full of clinical waste, chemicals and substances in which businesses and farmers simply cannot and don’t want to clean it up themselves, for this very reason.

How to keep your land or premises safe from criminal fly-tipping

Being vigilant is key here, but there are also a number of actions you can take to protect your land or business premises from incidents of criminal fly-tipping including installing sufficient CCTV or monitoring systems.

However the issue with these systems is that they can only monitor the incident and don’t offer any physical protection against fly-tipping.

The implementation of access control security is perhaps a more viable option for actually preventing the act of criminal fly-tipping and there a number of options available to you including:

• Security gates – security gates are one of the most common forms of access control security and preventing people from accessing your property or premises with a properly secured security gate can be effective in preventing the act of criminal fly tipping on your property.
• Height restriction barriers – as mentioned previously, the increase use of tipper Lorries and vans is a huge problem when it comes to fly-tipping. Limiting the access for these larger vehicles removes the ability to dump large amounts of rubbish on your premises.
• Security barriers – similar to security gates a properly secured and locked barrier can restrict the access to your premises, thus preventing the act of criminal fly-tipping.

When it comes to protecting your business from criminal fly-tipping preventing access to your land or business premises should be the main concern and whilst this may not help prevent the act entirely it will be beneficial to you and your business.