Manchester has issued almost four times as much in fly-tipping fines as any other local authority in England during 2023/24, government data says.
As a local authority, Manchester City Council (MCC) has issued fly-tipping fines worth a total of £130,034, this figure being a 32% rise from the fines issued in 2022/23, £98,184.
The data released by the government shows a summary of fly-tipping incidents, by local authority, and the total amount of fines issued between the years 2012/13 and 2023/24.
Breaking down the data by regions in England, the North West also ranks the highest in fly-tipping fines – £186,409 – with Manchester accounting for 70% of total fines.
As well as this, outside of the North West, Manchester as a local authority had a higher total of fly-tipping fines than each of the remaining regions in England during 2023/24.
Even though since 2022/23 MCC has increased the total amount of fines, total actions taken against fly-tipping have decreased.
Total actions for the most recent year added up to 11,974, yet this figure was an 8% decrease from 2022/23, 13,008.
Despite Manchester ranking first in total fines, they are only seventh out of local authorities in total actions against fly-tipping.
Between 2012/13 and 2018/19, Manchester recorded £243,667 from fly-tipping fines, but for the remaining years included in the data, the council raised this figure by 127%, and recorded fines worth £553,457.
The figures suggest MCC has increased its efforts to punish and prevent fly-tipping with total fines increasing since 2012/13.
A resident of Manchester, Jonathon Piccolo detailed their experience with fly-tipping in the area.
They said: “It’s hit and miss.
“Council collection of items is slow, difficult to arrange and takes forever. We left a mattress to be picked up, and they didn’t collect it, threatening a fine as they couldn’t find it.”
Mr Piccolo highlighted Ardwick and Moss Side were areas in the region where he had seen evidence of fly-tipping.
He added: “The closest tip is roughly 5km at best from the city centre, which means there is a lot of inner city fly-tipping.
“Things have marginally improved since they removed charges for DIY waste at the local tip, as I’ve noticed less fly-tipping in DIY waste.
“However, furniture, mattresses and black bags of waste, still can be found on your average walk around Manchester, especially along the canals and back streets which lack CCTV and adequate lighting.”
In August 2024, the council announced the launch of Manchester Clean and Green, which sees an additional £5 million investment over three years, on top of the renewal to the neighbourhood investment funding of £15 million over three years in the city.
MCC has declared a ‘war on rubbish’ with fines expected to increase in the future and CCTV to be expanded in an effort to reduce fly-tipping, as reported by the Manchester Evening News.
At the heart of the issue, the council explained fly-tipping is caused by a combination of residential fly-tipping and more organised criminal activities.
Commenting on Manchester issuing the highest amount of fines in 2023-24, a spokesperson from the council said: “This will have been achieved by a combination of joint proactive work and project schemes with partners in hot-spot areas where fly-tipping was most prevalent.”
The council works in partnership directly with their waste provider, Biffa, with the company having a dedicated resource with the remit of inspecting and removing fly-tipped waste.
On top of this, ‘Neighbourhood Intensive Management’ schemes within designated hot-spot areas across the city are carried out, which offers a combination of education, compliance and enforcement delivered by council partners.
Highlighting the dedicated resource within Biffa, the spokesperson emphasised this meant live cases of fly-tipping are sent directly to the councils ‘Neighbourhood Project Team’ to take forward enforcement actions, thus quickening action taken against fly-tippers.
MCC also stated they have deployed mobile CCTV Cameras in known fly-tipping hot-spots and continued inspections of commercial businesses have also contributed to the council’s actions against fly-tipping.
Feature image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Michael Ely)
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