[REF: ‘Lib Dems promise to triple fly tipping fines to £9m’, Karl Mathiesen, The Guardian]

Nick Clegg’s proposals to increase fines for commercial fly-tippers are encouraging.

As well as ruining people’s enjoyment of our woodlands and green spaces, fly-tipping is dangerous for wildlife, damaging to the ecology of England’s natural environment and expensive to clean up.

We take a zero-tolerance approach across the 11,000 acres of green space which we manage in London and South east England, prosecuting whenever we can. But the problem continues because fines are too low and do not reflect the seriousness of the crime.

In Epping Forest alone we collect around 400 tonnes each year; about 45 tonnes of that are recycled and it costs around £250,000 to clear these sites.

It is time that the people who partake in this damaging anti-social activity are stopped.

Sue Ireland
Director of Green Spaces, City of London Corporation
twitter.com/colsueireland