FLY-TIPPING figures recorded for last year hit their highest level in a decade but just 32 people were fined for dumping waste.
According to data from Barnsley Council, a total of 5,932 reports were logged in 2024/25 higher than the previous year’s 5,220 and more than any annual total since 2015/16.
The cost of collecting and disposing of illegally dumped waste rose sharply to £429,397 during the same period, an increase of more than £130,000 on the previous year.
In contrast, the council recorded its lowest fly-tipping spend of the past decade in 2022/23, when £276,045 was spent dealing with 4,597 reports.
More than 1,000 fly-tipping and waste-related investigations were carried out in 2025, although just 32 fixed penalty notices specifically for fly-tipping were handed out.
Councillor James Higginbottom, cabinet spokesperson for environment and highways, said fly-tipping continued to have a ‘significant impact’ on communities across the borough.
“Costs have continued to rise due to new things such as persistent organic pollutants regulations, which demand affected furniture being separated for incineration,” he added.
“However, the cost per removal for last year is in line with the average cost per removal over the last decade.
“We have a proactive enforcement team who carried out over 1,000 fly-tipping and waste-related investigations in 2025.
“This saw us issue 98 fixed penalty notices for environmental offences, 32 of which were for fly-tipping, with fines totalling £5,800.
“We also seized 11 vehicles during investigations.
“We’ll continue to take strong action against those who scourge our borough, but we’re not resting on our laurels.
“That’s why we’ve invested £3.5m into our Love Where You Live programme this year, including a new housing and environmental taskforce to provide targeted support to clean up communities across Barnsley and support residents to dispose of their waste both lawfully and safely.
“They’ve delivered 80 days across 15 wards since its introduction, removing 81 tonnes of fly-tipping and almost 11,000 purple bags of waste thanks to 583 hours of support from volunteers.”
Coun Steve Bullcock, who represents the Kingstone ward, has long been campaigning for tougher stances and quicker dealings for those who choose to fly-tip on Barnsley’s streets.
He says that around a third of all fly-tipping incidents across the borough take place in his ward.
He told the Chronicle: “The council team responsible for clearing fly tipped waste do an excellent job responding quickly to cleaning it up.
“In all honesty they are second to none, cleaning up after those that do not care.
“However this costs money, money that could be spent on looking after vulnerable people and other important matters that affect our town.
“We now have to up our game by catching more of those responsible for trashing our town.
“We need to identify those responsible if this means using modern technology along with such as covert or mobile cameras, so be it.
“Coupled with other ideas we can end this never-ending problem in our town.”
