Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Highways and Environmental Services (copy enclosed) which sets out how fly-tipping is reported and dealt-with in Denbighshire.

                                                                                                         11.30 a.m.

A copy of a report by the Head of Highways and Environmental Services (HHES), which set out how fly-tipping is reported and dealt-with in Denbighshire, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The Project Manager: NE Hub (PMNEH) provided an introduction and explained the reasons for the report as detailed in the report itself.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) administered the database ‘Flycapture’ into which all Welsh Councils entered their fly-tipping statistics.  NRW prescribed the procedures for submitting the data, including what should, and should not, count as a fly-tipping incident.  However, individual councils continued to use different methods to gather and process their own statistics, and this affected the comparability of the published data.  Examples of the differing ways that individual councils record their fly-tipping incidents had been included in the report.

The Senior Environmental Crime Officer (SECO) responded to questions from Members and explained that the huge variances in reported incident numbers, as detailed in the report, could only be explained by the different data collection and processing methods utilised by councils.  These variances could not be explained by demographic differences or observed behavioral differences.  He confirmed that the Environmental Crime Team had recognised the phenomenon and had pressed the NRW for a more consistent reporting regime.  If councils did not gather data in a consistent manner, the annual NRW report would not indicate like for like comparisons, and the use of the statistics as a performance measure may be flawed.  Comparison with other North Wales Councils had been incorporated in the report.

Denbighshire’s reported incidents typically run at approximately 2 to 2.5 times higher than the numbers being reported by the other North Wales councils as Denbighshire purposely attempted to capture every single incident of illegally deposited waste, whether or not it was on public or private land, and regardless of whether or not it was reported by a member of the public.  High reporting rates being regarded as a pre-requisite for the minimisation of actual fly-tipping activity which was an important principle.

Details relating to Denbighshire historical trends had been incorporated in the report.  The SECO explained that the fly-tipping Enforcement Team would like the Council’s CRM system to move to geographically-based recording.  This would simplify the processing of all streetscene issues and help with the analysis of incidents by location, which would provide for more effective targeting of enforcement.  NRW had also expressed a desire to move to a geographical system and were currently developing an ‘app’ to assist with this.

The SECO highlighted the need to improve the categorisation of incidents and to isolate genuine fly-tipping incidents, and those which the Council had a duty to clean up.  This was currently undertaken via a stand-alone, secondary analysis, which it was felt should be part of the Council’s normal CRM processes.

The importance of Denbighshire’s Enforcement Strategy was outlined and the resulting investigations and/or prosecutions had resulted in a significant deterrent effect, which had been considered to be a crucial factor in making Denbighshire a clean and pleasant county.

The Chair and Members of the Committee congratulated and thanked the Environment Team for the work undertaken and it was then:

RESOLVED – that, subject to Members observations, the Committee:-

(a) support the Council's current approach and method of recording fly-tipping incidents;

(b) supports the continuation of the Council's policy of rigorous enforcement on fly-tipping issues;

(c) endorses the proposal that Denbighshire should continue to lobby Natural Resources Wales regarding the quality of the 'Flycapture' data collated across Wales; and

(d) agreed that the Chair of the Committee write to the Chair of Natural Resources Wales reinforcing the Committee’s concerns with respect to the quality and reliability of the 'Flycapture' data, and that the Head of Internal Audit also raise the Committee's concerns with relevant officers at Natural Resources Wales.