A Labour budget amendment a year ago has gone nowhere
15:56, 26 Feb 2026Updated 16:30, 26 Feb 2026
A recent fly-tip in Bristol (Image: Bristol Labour)
A row has erupted after it emerged Green-led Bristol City Council has failed to install five new fly-tipping enforcement cameras in known hotspots and raise littering spot fines by £100 despite support from full council a year ago.
Opposition Labour secured backing for a budget amendment in February 2025 for more investment to tackle the scourge.
The Conservatives and Lib Dems voted in favour, with the Greens against, leaving the decision at 34-34, but the lord mayor’s casting vote carried the proposals.
However, a report to the environment and sustainability committee this evening (Thursday, February 26) says none of the suggestions had been implemented because officers had deemed them unnecessary – despite the political cross-party support from elected councillors.
The report says alternative plans had been found that would be more useful and cost-effective, including hiring more people to monitor the council’s existing wide network of CCTV in the first place as this is where the crucial shortage is.
It has sparked a war of words ahead of the meeting, with Labour accusing the Greens of “sitting on their hands” doing nothing about it for a year, and the Greens hitting back by calling Labour “hypocrites” for cutting fly-tipping enforcement under its previous administration.
Labour group leader Cllr Tom Renhard ( Horfield ) said: “The Green-led council is refusing to install anti fly-tipping cameras because it would apparently cost too much to monitor them.
“I don’t buy it. It would not be overly onerous or expensive to have five more cameras monitored.
“To put this in perspective, Bristol Waste cleared over 11,000 incidents of fly-tipping last year, costing local taxpayers almost £1million.
“Since the Greens took office, residents who believe street litter is a problem in Bristol has reached a staggering 96 per cent in deprived communities.
“The council has found the money for new executive director salaries, failed privatisation attempts, and to correct typos in their council tax letters. It can find the money to clean up our streets.”
He said there was a wider concern about democratic process because not only was Labour’s budget amendment approved, so was its motion to full council the following month, in March 2025, with further measures to crack down on fly-tipping.
“Yet, the Greens have refused to implement it – instead coming back with another attempt to bin the policy,” Cllr Renhard said.
“Councillors decided the city needed more action on fly-tipping – it needs to be delivered.”
Environment committee vice-chair Cllr Kirsty Tait (Labour, Hartcliffe & Withywood) said: “The Greens objected to this proposal and refused to implement it.
“Now, after a year of sitting on their hands, they’ve looked into it and brought back a report that says ‘an additional five [cameras] are not required at this stage’.
“That’s a baffling conclusion. I don’t know what planet they’re living on.
“Speak to anyone, anywhere in Bristol, and they’ll be able to point you to a fly-tip.”
Committee chair Cllr Martin Fodor (Green, Redland) said: “Bristol Labour’s hypocrisy remains unmatched.
“Trucks to collect fly-tipping were cut by the previous Labour administration and that’s the reason that, as Cllr Tait says, anyone can point you to a fly-tip.”
“This year, this Green-led council will spend £400,000 on improving street cleansing and to get trucks back on Bristol’s streets – in a budget which, bizarrely, Bristol Labour voted against.
“More CCTV cameras will not be a good use of public money, as Labour are aware.
“What is needed is funding for more people monitoring the CCTV that already exists so more people can be prosecuted, which is exactly what residents want.
“While they clutch at straws to attack the Greens to distract from their failing government, Greens will get on with the business of making sure fly-tipping collection continues to improve and catching the criminals responsible.”
Officers are advising the committee to say no to the five extra fly-tipping cameras, instead boosting the CCTV monitoring and inspection team, and raise littering fixed penalty notices from £150 to £175 instead of the £250 agreed in Labour’s budget amendment last year.
Their report said the 2026/27 budget approved this month included more money for waste and recycling services, including an additional fly-tip collection round, and bolstering the council’s operations centre to deploy existing CCTV to fly-tipping hotspots.
It said: “Evaluation of the current CCTV deployment indicates that the council already has sufficient redeployable/mobile enforcement cameras.
“However, there is an insufficient revenue budget to operate these assets to their full potential. Installing additional cameras without funding for monitoring and investigation would be unlikely to deliver improved enforcement outcomes.
“Adding more cameras would not meaningfully improve enforcement without sufficient funding to redeploy them to hotspots as required (at a cost of £1,000 per camera). Annual maintenance and 4G network access costs are circa £14,000 per annum per camera.
“Allocating funding to expand the Operations Centre capability by appointing officers dedicated to fly-tipping monitoring and investigation would significantly improve the council’s ability to utilise CCTV effectively.
“An additional five [cameras] are not required at this stage.”
The report said evidence from other councils and specialist and legal advice indicated that increasing littering spot fines from £150 to £250 would actually reduce the amount of income because fewer people would pay and more cases would have to go to court, which is expensive for the authority, so they should be raised to only £175.