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Updated 25 August 2023

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fly-tipping-in-england/local-authority-fly-tipping-enforcement-league-tables-for-england-202122

This statistical notice presents league tables for local authorities in England covering aspects of enforcement. The tables cover the reporting period April 2021 to March 2022. This is a supplementary release to our main fly-tipping statistics which were published on the 31st January 2023.

A breakdown of data for each local authority is available in the published dataset.

In the Antisocial Behaviour Action Plan, government committed to “increase transparency of the data on the use of on-the-spot fines, including publishing league tables on fly-tipping to show which local authorities are taking a muscular approach”. We are publishing the following set of tables to meet this commitment.

These data are based on incidents and actions reported through WasteDataFlow. Local authorities gather their data from a number of different sources, and data can often be collected and reported by separate teams. There is a level of discretion in applying the reporting guidance. This can lead to some differences in how local authorities record incidents and actions. The nature of fly-tipping means that there can be relatively high variation between years and between local authorities. Changes in data collection and reporting over time mean that trends should be interpreted with caution.

Comparisons between local authorities should be made with care. The situation is complex and can be influenced by population density, housing stock, demographics and commuter routes. Those reporting higher incident numbers are often those being more pro-active and rigorous in identifying incidents by encouraging the public to report incidents, training of street crews, and increased use of more sophisticated methods for capturing and reporting incidents. Local authorities take a variety of approaches to tackling fly-tipping based on their local priorities, and so enforcement data should not be used in isolation as a measurement of performance. Defra is also aware that the definitions used to describe fly-tips and enforcement actions in the guidance are interpreted broadly by local authorities, and that changes in staffing, data collection methods, and cyber-crime have led to reporting errors in the past.

Enforcement actions are actions carried out by local authorities in response to fly-tipping incidents. These actions could include investigations, warning letters, statutory notices, fixed penalty notices (FPNs), duty of care inspections, stop and search, vehicles seized, formal cautions, prosecutions and injunctions.

There were 507,000 enforcement actions carried out in England in 2021/22. It should be noted that multiple actions can sometimes be carried out on one particular incident.

The published dataset contains details on the number of enforcement actions broken down by type for each local authority.

Eight local authorities did not report any enforcement actions through WasteDataFlow in 2021/22 - Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Colchester, East Devon, Exeter, Isles of Scilly, Somerset West and Taunton, Uttlesford, and Wychavon.

Total fixed penalty notices (FPNs) includes FPNs issued specifically for fly-tipping, FPNs issued for breaching the household waste duty of care, FPNs for littering issued in conjunction with fly-tipping, and other FPNs issued in relation to fly-tipping.

The total number of fixed penalty notices issued was 91,000 in 2021/22. There were 43 local authorities in 2021/22 which did not issue any fixed penalty notices. An additional 76 local authorities issued 10 or fewer fixed penalty notices in 2021/22.

Table 1 shows the 20 local authorities reporting the most fixed penalty notices issued in 2021/22, whilst Table 2 shows the 73 local authorities issuing 0, 1 or 2 fixed penalty notices. This includes the 8 local authorities that did not report any enforcement actions for 2021/22.

We would expect that local authorities with fewer fly-tipping incidents would have less cause to issue fixed penalty notices in relation to fly-tipping. Tables 3 and 4 present the number of fixed penalty notices standardised against the number of incidents.

A breakdown of the fixed penalty notice data by local authority is available in the published dataset.

Source: WasteDataFlow, Defra

Notes - Table 1

Source: WasteDataFlow, Defra

Notes - Table 2

Source: WasteDataFlow, Defra

Notes - Table 3

Source: WasteDataFlow, Defra

Notes - Table 4

Responsible statisticians: Katherine Merrett and Adele Storr

Email: [email protected]

Media enquiries: 0330 041 6560 (Defra Press Office)

This is an Official Statistics publication. These statistics have been produced to the high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, which sets out eight principles including meeting user needs, impartiality and objectivity, integrity, sound methods and assured quality, frankness and accessibility. For more information, please see the Official Statistics Code of Practice.

Fly-tipping is the illegal deposit of waste on land, contrary to Section 33(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Local authorities and the Environment Agency both have a responsibility in respect of illegally deposited waste. This includes local authorities and the Environment Agency collecting and reporting data on fly-tipping in their area. This statistical notice covers data reported by local authorities in England.

Data on fly-tipping is collected to inform policy making and to provide local authorities with a management tool that enables a problem solving approach to be taken. It records the number of fly-tipping incidents, the type of material tipped, location and size, together with enforcement action taken. The data are used by local and central government, researchers and the public.

For further details on the methodology and data caveats please see the main fly-tipping release.

A breakdown of data for each local authority is available on the Defra website.

We welcome feedback on the data from all users including how and why the data is used. This helps us to understand the value of the statistics to external users. Please see our contact details section of this notice.

Defra will provide information about any revisions made to published information in this statistics release and the associated datasets. Revisions could occur for various reasons, including when data from third parties is unavailable or revised data has been input to the Fly-tipping Module of WasteDataFlow.