Murdo has said that more measures are needed to deal with “the scourge” of fly-tipping, including increasing penalties.
He was commenting following an amendment he put forward to the Scottish Government recently being agreed and included in their Circular and Economy (Scotland) Bill, which will mean that Fixed Penalty Notices can reach £1,000 if needed.
The Bill includes some measures to deal with fly-tipping, and Mr Fraser has been told by Gillian Martin MSP, Minister for Climate Action, that another amendment he has put forward on clarifying strict liability will be looked at in the next week. Mr Fraser spoke with the Minister online earlier this week.
Commenting, Murdo said: “Fife Council recently announced that fly-tipping had increased in the region by 12% despite the local authority scrapping a £30 fee to uplift large household items in April last year, and I find this very concerning indeed. The council’s environment services said although 55,547 free uplifts had taken place in the 12 months following scrapping the charge, the number of fly-tipping incidents increased to 3,483 – up 373 on the previous year.
“This shocking total included the dumping of 47 car tyres at the roadside near Valleyfield in Fife. This is alarming and just emphasises the need for a variety of measures needed to tackle the scourge of fly-tipping.”
Murdo continued: “Incidents like these that have taken place in Fife were part of the reason why I embarked on putting together a Members’ Bill on Fly-tipping back in 2022. I later met with the Scottish Government as certain aspects of my Bill overlapped with their Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, and I am delighted that one of my amendments on increasing Fixed Penalty Notices was agreed at Stage 2 of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill, meaning these can be increased to £1,000 if needed.
“It seems that strict penalties could be one of the main deterrents to clamp down on fly-tipping as the scrapping of charging for uplifts of larger household items in Fife clearly has not reduced instances of it in the Kingdom.
“I am also keen to ensure strict liability for the dumping of fly-tipping on land becomes enforceable, and I’m pleased that the Scottish Government Minister for Climate Action has agreed to look into this further. I have proposed that we can look at tweaking Section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 so that we can look at local authorities helping with the funding for removing some of the unwanted fly-tipping dumped on landowners’ land. We have seen examples of this in Perth and Kinross, where the Council have helped remove fly-tipping from land.
“It is unfair placing the burden on removing fly-tipping on to innocent landowners so I’m hoping the Scottish Government agree to this amendment.”
The data from Fife Council revealed that more than 43,000 black bags of household and garden waste were removed. Other items included 9,300 couches, 8,200 mattresses, 4,000 fridge freezers and 3,000 bed bases.
The local authority had spent £1.2 million per year on the free bulky uplift scheme.
