RURAL Barnsley outposts which have been blighted by soaring amounts of dumped waste will receive better protection much to the delight of a local MP.
Penistone and Stocksbridge MP, Marie Tidball, welcomed tough new measures to tackle record-breaking fly-tipping rates.
The government have given new powers to Barnsley Council to empower them to seize and crush fly-tipping vehicles, use new technologies to identify fly-tipping vehicles, and imprison waste cowboys for up to five years in prison.
Marie said: “I want to ensure our communities are one of the best places to grow up and grow old in.
“That’s why I strongly welcome the government’s tough new measures to crack down on this selfish behaviour.
“It’s simple: you make the mess, you pay the price.
“When knocking on doors across our communities, I’ve heard time and time again that residents are sick of the site of our area being plagued by discarded rubbish and waste, and that it’s a problem that has been ignored for too long.
“Fly-tippers selfishly spoil our beautiful and special communities.
“The previous Conservative government’s failure to act meant our high streets, roads, and countryside have been impacted by rubbish dumping, whilst waste criminals went unpunished.”
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said fly-tipping on private land and fields is ‘going unrecorded on a mass scale’, and that concrete blocks and security fencing have had to be used to keep out waste criminals.
A recent survey carried out by the CLA estimated that two-thirds of farmers and landowners in rural or semi-rural communities were affected by the fly-tipping of tonnes of household and commercial waste.
The organisation says thousands of offences go unrecorded every year, as farmers often have so little faith in the ability of the police or council to deal with fly-tipping that they simply bear the cost of removing rubbish themselves.
CLA president Victoria Vyvyan added: “Rural communities have had enough of fly-tipping and waste crime.
“Farmers and the countryside are increasingly being targeted by organised crime gangs often violent who know that rural areas are under-policed and so they target them.
“As Labour itself has pointed out, the crime rate in rural areas has surged by 32 per cent since 2011, faster than in urban areas.
“People, communities and businesses deserve to feel safe and protected, and the first place to start must surely be ending the chronic under-funding of rural police forces.”
