£1m for council task force to fight fly-tipping issue
Fly-tipping in Newham - Credit: Newham Council
The council has pledged £1million to fund a special taskforce to tackle fly-tipping in the borough.
The new Fly-Tip Task Force will be hammering home the message “don’t mess with Newham” with high visibility patrols combined with “covert operatons”, the council said.
Made up of 10 officers, with more to be recruited, the team has eight covert camera vehicals as well as more than 50 other hidden camera devices, two CCTV vans, and five service cars to tackle fly-tipping.
The announcement follows April’s launch of the Keep Newham Clean campaign, which encouraged people to take pride in their area.
Sir Robin said: “Residents have identified cleanliness and safety as the two top priorities for the council.
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“As part of our Keep Newham Clean campaign I promised that we would target those who illegally dump waste on our streets and blight our environment.
“I don’t break a promise and while I am Mayor, our beefed-up enforcement team will keep cracking down on fly-tipping hotspots.”
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Since the launch, more than 7,000 fly-tips have been investigated by the team and 116 £400 fixed penalty notices have been issued.
The council has seen a 100pc conviction rate when it takes fly-tippers to court.
In April, Reece Gillard was told he must perform 200 hours of unpaid work, wear an electronic tag for four months and abide by a 8pm to 6am curfew, after he was caught dumping a large amount of wood, insulation and building material in Jade Close, Custom House.
Gillard also had to pay £1,500 costs, a £50 victim surcharge and forfeited his van to the council.
However, the high-tech task force can’t tackle the problem alone - they need your reports.
The Mayor said: “We also need residents to be part of the deal too and have pride in where they live and dispose of waste responsibly.
“With everyone working together, we can make Newham the clean borough that we all want and deserve.”
You can report fly-tipping to the task force in less than 40 seconds using the free Love Newham app on your smartphone, or the My Newham online portal.
