It is all very well Croydon Council warning of a £50,000 fine for fly tipping, as it does with its sign here, but such a deterrent needs to be backed up by action
The streets of Croydon are more rubbish now than they were a couple of years ago. That’s according to STUART KING, who has obtained the council’s own official figures
Since 2010, the number of fly tipping incidents reported to Croydon Council has risen by 150 per cent.
According to the council’s own figures, there were 11,149 incidents of fly tipping reported in 2012-2013. That’s the equivalent of over 30 episodes of illegal tipping every day of the year. Since April this year, there has been another 5,878 incidents reported to and recorded by Croydon Council – which suggests that last year’s “record” is set to be broken.
Here are the council’s figures, supplied after I submitted a Freedom of Information request:
Every single part of Croydon has seen an increase, with the amount of fly tipping more than doubling in 17 of the borough’s 24 wards. In West Thornton, where I am a member of the local Labour party’s action team, the number of fly tips has jumped from 194 in 2010 to 1,351 in just one year.
The casual dumping of waste and rubbish has reached epidemic proportions around Croydon
We are facing an epidemic of fly tipping in this borough.
Sadly for residents, Croydon Council has shown that it is not up to the job of tackling this problem.
The response to reports of fly tipping is slow and begrudging. Residents tell me they have reported fly tips promptly to the council, only to see a slow or non-existent response from their local authority. It is as if the council is shrugging its shoulders and walking away from the problem.
The problem is particularly acute in the north of the borough, where more than 60 per cent of Croydon’s fly tipping has occurred. I am delighted that Croydon North MP Steve Reed has recognised this problem and is to launch an independently chaired commission on the state of the streets to find out what’s gone wrong and what can be done about it.
The commission will take evidence from individuals, households and community groups to establish the scale of the problem with Croydon’s streets. They will then make recommendations for how the streets can be improved which Reed will deliver to Croydon Council later this year.
I encourage residents to submit their own experience and comments about the state of local streets – full information will be available on Reed’s website www.stevereedmp.co.uk.
In the meantime, Labour campaigners like myself will continue to press the council to recognise the extent of the problem, improve their response and start smartening up our streets. Croydon deserves better.
- Stuart King was recently selected as one of the Labour candidates for West Thornton ward for next year’s council elections
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