Newham cracks down on illegal rubbish dumping

fly tipping, illegal dumping, rubbish

Newham is coming down hard on criminals who dump waste illegally by bringing in a team of environmental enforcement officers to tackle rubbish dumping in the borough.

At their meeting yesterday (Tuesday) Cabinet approved an 18-month trial to bring in extra resources to crack down on those spoiling the local environment for the wider community.

Council enforcement officers have powers to issue, on the spot, Fixed Penalty Notices and prosecute those who commit environmental crime in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.

The Council will now go ahead with the plan to procure an external enforcement provider to supply additional officers with these powers to proactively patrol the borough.

To further support these tactics, in response to community concerns, extra resources will be provided in house to carry out high visibility patrols and extra clean-up services.

The contract will be operated on a cost neutral basis, with a revenue share agreement between the Council and the contractor, and if there is any financial gain it will be put straight back into delivering activities that support a cleaner, greener borough.

Cabinet Lead for Crime and Community Safety, Councillor James Beckles said: “Those that think they are above the law by illegally dumping waste will be caught and prosecuted. The new team will enhance our ability to tackle littering in our borough, which is both anti-social and affects how our residents experience our high streets and public spaces.

“We’re responding to the concerns of our residents who told us in our latest annual survey that clean streets is a top concern and at our latest citizen’s assembly greening the borough was chosen as the number one priority.

“This activity will have an immediate impact and hopefully reassure residents that we will not stand by while a minority of people continually disrespect our neighbourhoods.

“This is about ensuring that those who think nothing of spoiling the borough for others understand and feel the consequences according to the law.”

Residents who would like to support the council by reporting illegally dumped rubbish can do so by downloading the Love Newham app on a mobile phone. Residents can take a picture, upload it with the time, date and location and it will be sent to the right team to deal with. They will also send back an update to say what has been done.

Cllr Beckles added: “If you have too much waste for your bins please don’t be tempted to dump it on the street, it is illegal and you will face a fine. There are other ways you can get rid of it safely without making the streets a mess. You can donate unwanted items to charity shops, book a bulky waste collection from us or take it to the Jenkins Lane Centre; more information is available on our website.”

Published: 06 Oct 2021