Exeter MP Steve Race welcomes government crackdown on fly-tipping with new powers and £5,000 fines

Fly-tippers could be forced to clean up their own mess and pay for it themselves under new government plans, as the MP for Exeter prepares to visit a site repeatedly targeted by illegal dumping.

The Prime Minister has ordered a crackdown on criminal gangs profiting from illegal waste dumping, with a new Ministerial Tackling Waste Crime Alliance set to bring together government, regulators, police, the National Crime Agency and mayors against waste criminals. The alliance will be chaired by Environment Secretary Dame Angela Eagle.

New powers will scrap the two-year time limit on confiscating cash, cars, houses and other assets bought with the proceeds of waste crime. Fixed Penalty Notices issued by the Environment Agency for waste offences will rise from £300 to £5,000.

A new consultation has also been launched on "clean-up squads", which would give councils stronger powers to issue conditional cautions requiring fly-tippers to complete up to 20 hours of unpaid clean-up work, while recovering the cost of clearing the mess directly from offenders.

Steve Race, MP for Exeter, has previously raised constituents' concerns about repeated instances of illegal dumping in Stoke Woods, an ancient woodland and Site of Special Scientific Interest in the north of the city.

He said: "People in Exeter have had to put up with repeated fly-tipping on our green spaces for too long. I am due to visit Stoke Hill Woods this autumn alongside the Environment Agency, to consider the specific issues affecting this area and push for action.

"This isn't about individuals not using the tip; it's about cowboy operators posing as legitimate businesses, making money out of illegal dumping.

"This package is a real step forward - it means fly-tippers in Exeter will be made to clean up their own mess and pay for it, and I will be watching closely to make sure these new powers are used.

"I'm pleased that Exeter City Council will be responding to the consultation, to make sure that the particular waste crime challenges facing our city are taken into account."

Councillor Ruth Williams, deputy leader and lead councillor for support services and city management at Exeter City Council, said the authority welcomed the government's action.

She said: "In Exeter, as well as organised dumping in our surrounding green spaces, we also see lots of smaller scale fly-tipping on our city streets. Exeter City Council will be responding to the Government's consultation to make sure the new powers can be effectively used to make offenders clear up their own mess, big or small, so taxpayers don't end up paying for irresponsible dumping.

"Exeter City Council will take enforcement action where fly-tippers can be identified, and has issued 10 fixed penalty notices for related offences in the past 18 months."

Anyone with evidence to help identify perpetrators is asked to report it via the council's website.

Dame Angela Eagle said large-scale waste sites were fuelled by serious, organised crime, and that the full force of the law would be used to tackle it and root it out at source.

She said: "Communities have been subjected to horrendous conditions and denied the pride they deserve in the places they call home. This ends now. We are cleaning up sites, but we are also stopping the cycle, driving faster prevention and disruption, better intelligence, and stronger coordination across the system."