Tenants join the fight against illegal fly tipping

Despite the fact that culprits can face hefty fines and prosecution, fly tipping is a national issue that unfortunately has a detrimental impact on whole communities.

The team of Tenant Inspectors took over six months to complete their in depth investigation, which involved interviewing council staff, surveying tenants, and touring the city to visit fly tipping hot spots where bags of rubbish, old furniture or bulky items are often dumped. The team also compared how other local councils deal with the issue, before making useful recommendations to help improve this issue. You can read their full report online.

“In our last investigation on council house stigma we discovered that fly tipping can have a big impact on how local people feel about their home as it makes neighbourhoods look uncared for and run down, which can foster a lack of community pride” says Ann, one of the Inspectors. “We were also concerned about the amount of staff time and money that is spent dealing with this form of antisocial behaviour. We hope our suggestions will make a real difference to tackling this problem in the future.”

Some of the recommendations made by the Inspectors include:

• Publicising details of people who have been fined and prosecuted for fly tipping in order to discourage others (keep an eye out in future issues of Tenants’ Link for details on this)
• Encouraging residents to be more proactive in reporting fly tipping online and acknowledge reports promptly
• More training for housing staff on how to deal with fly tipping effectively
• Warning tower block tenants not to throw items from height
• Improving and securing bulk waste areas in tower blocks
• Investigate the cost of introducing more bulk waste areas across the city

What to do if you have bulky items to get rid of

Remember that if you have bulky items like beds, sofas, electrical appliances or pushchairs that you no longer need, there are lots of ways to dispose of them which don’t involve fly tipping. Either ask us to arrange a bulky waste collection, donate to a local charity shop (many will even collect for free), advertise your items online and you may even be able to make some money as your trash could be someone else’s treasure. Find out other ways to dispose of bulky waste.

How to report a problem

If you see someone fly tipping or there is dumped rubbish in your neighbourhood, please let us know so that we can take action. Use the online reporting form to report fly tipping online and if possible upload photos of the problem area.

Get involved

If you would like to join the team of Tenant Inspectors to help scrutinise areas of the housing service or suggest an idea for a future inspection, please get in touch. It’s a great way to learn new skills and meet new people whilst playing an important role in improving the service for all. Find out more about becoming a Tenant Inspector or joining one of our other panels or forums.