The new leadership of Milton Keynes Council has announced its plans to tackle fly-tipping, including the introduction of more CCTV and a designated environmental crime enforcement officer.
Fly-tipping has increased 300% nationally since 2015 and in Milton Keynes, it has increased by around 16% in recent years.
Residents and local organisations, such as The Parks Trust, reported seeing a large-scale increase during the first half of 2020 - a time when the rubbish tips were closed and people were utilising the city's green spaces more than ever.
Recently, the council has increased the use of CCTV and the number of prosecutions, however, the new Labour & Lib Dem administration is promising extra resources to combat the problem.
A new environmental crime enforcement officer will be employed to bring more fly-tippers to justice and deal with abandoned vehicles, while more CCTV is also planned.
The coalition is also planning to conduct in-depth research into the causes of fly-tipping and how best to target resources into dealing with the issue.
The new Council Plan, due to be published tomorrow and voted on by councillors next week, is the programme for the council over the next 12 months.
It will also include a commitment to review the tip booking system after sites have been operating without social distancing for three months, although a leading councillor says that early issues with slot availability are already now "mainly resolved".
Speaking about fly-tipping, Cllr Lauren Townsend, Labour Progressive Alliance Cabinet Member for Public Realm said: “We will bring forward a plan to tackle this issue based on evidence and what works.
"In the meantime, we are increasing resources and bringing in an extra environmental enforcement officer to deal with fly-tipping and abandoned vehicles, and we will be increasing CCTV to catch more of these criminals.
"The review will look at the tip-booking system after it has been operational for three months with no social distancing, because while we believe that the issues with booking slots have now mainly been resolved and when distancing ends even more slots will be available, we will make our decisions based on facts.”
