An MP has slammed the \u201cunacceptable\u201d fly-tipping blighting residents\u2019 lives as he vowed to crack down on the issue in parliament.<\/p>\n
James Wild MP will this week be voting for tougher measures to crack down on waste offenced as the House of Commons considers amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill.<\/p>\n
Under the changes debated on today, where a person is convicted of a fly-tipping offence under the Environmental Protection Act, an offender would be liable for costs incurred through loss or damage resulting from that offence \u2013 rather than landowners or taxpayers facing the cost.<\/p>\n
A frequent dumping site on Clockcase Road in Clenchwarton. Picture: Alice Hobbs<\/p>\n
Another measure would enable vehicles to be seized where an individual is found guilty of fly-tipping.<\/p>\n
This comes amid a series of offences around West Norfolk, with Clenchwarton perhaps seeing the worst of it as waste is regularly dumped off the likes of Clockcase Lane and Main Road.<\/p>\n
Despite West Norfolk Council clearing approximately 65 tonnes of rubbish from a layby on Main Road in March, villagers have continued to raise concerns with Mr Wild about further illegal dumping at the same site, as well as at other locations.<\/p>\n
North West Norfolk MP James Wild. Picture: Alice Hobbs<\/p>\n
The MP said: \u201cFly-tipping and illegal waste burning is unacceptable and blights the lives of residents and damages our local environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation in Clenchwarton shows exactly why tougher action is needed, which is why I back stronger penalties. It is disappointing the Labour Government opposes these tougher measures which would ensure offenders bear the cost of their crimes and better protect communities like Clenchwarton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will continue working with the Environment Agency and the council to ensure robust enforcement against those responsible and that further steps are taken to and further steps are taken to deter illegal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Wild has welcomed the Clenchwarton clear-up and ongoing enforcement action, including prosecutions that have already resulted in two convictions for dumping waste on Clockcase Lane, with further individuals due to stand trial and live arrest warrants in place for two suspects who failed to appear in court.<\/p>\n
However, he is clear that the problem \u201chas not been resolved\u201d.<\/p>\n
He has been pressing the Environment Agency and the borough council to back ongoing action and push for \u201cfurther practical preventative measures\u201d, including CCTV monitoring alongside enforcement already under way through the courts.<\/p>\n
Mr Wild will shortly be meeting with the council to discuss how best to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An MP has slammed the \u201cunacceptable\u201d fly-tipping blighting residents\u2019 lives as he vowed to crack down on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[924,1397,229,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-531107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-crime","tag-environment","tag-politics","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}