The Government has today launched its new Waste Crime Action Plan – the toughest ever crackdown on illegal waste – backed by an additional £45 million for the Environment Agency to pursue fly-tippers and organised criminal gangs across England.
Waste crime costs the economy £1 billion every year, with nearly 1.3 million incidents of fly-tipping recorded last year alone.
In Southampton it is a huge problem, with the city recording over 12,000 separate incidents of fly-tipping in the year 2024-25, and areas such as Newtown and Portswood hit particularly hard.
A number of measures tackling the issue have been implemented locally by the Labour Council, including introducing an innovative stencilling initiative in Newtown – an area particularly badly affected – working with the community to monitor known hotspots, and running awareness raising campaigns on the proper disposal of waste.
Last summer, a Council led clean-up effort in Newtown demonstrated the scale of the issue, with 20 tonnes of waste collected in a single day. This included overfilled bins, furniture, black rubbish bags and mattresses.
Labour’s new Waste Crime Action Plan sets out a zero-tolerance approach, with action to prevent waste crime at its source by closing loopholes and equipping regulators with the tools they need to stop waste criminals.
Under the plans, the Government will ramp up efforts to punish offenders committing waste crime. This could see them ordered to complete up to 20 hours of unpaid work cleaning streets and parks as part of new “clean-up squads” and required to repay the cost of clearing the waste they illegally dumped.
The Environment Agency will also gain new police-style powers to search premises, seize assets and make arrests, and will create a new Operational Waste Intelligence Unit to go after criminal networks using aerial surveillance and financial data.
Satvir Kaur, Member of Parliament for Southampton Test, said:
“As someone that grew up in Newtown – a fly-tipping hotspot – I know nothing is more frustrating than people using your neighbourhood as a rubbish bin. It’s been a constant motivator for me, first as a councillor and now as an MP for the city, to tackle this head-on.
It’s why I hugely welcome the Government’s Action Plan launched today, which will see prevention, enforcement and clean-up measures enhanced – something I have long fought for, alongside councillors and community groups. Fly-tippers will be ordered to clean up their mess, hit with points on their driving licence, and may even lose their licence altogether.
This goes beyond just cleaning up our streets, it goes to the root causes, making those who pollute our neighbourhoods pay the price. As a government, we’re working hard to ensure people feel more pride in the places we live in – this is a great example of how we make that happen.”
Councillor John Savage, Portswood Councillor and Cabinet Member for Environment and Net Zero at Southampton City Council, said:
“As a councillor in Portswood, a real problem area for waste crime, I know how much residents are despairing at this seemingly never-ending issue. It is also distinctly unfair that hardworking council taxpayers must foot the clean-up bill for the criminal actions of others.
Whilst we have been pleased with the successes of our locally led interventions, there is always so much more to be done. Thanks to the funding uplift the city has received from the Government, we have also been able to identify additional resource locally to bolster fly-tipping enforcement. This, along with measures outlined in the Action Plan, will strengthen our ability to tackle city fly-tipping head-on.
I am delighted the Government is treating this problem with the seriousness it deserves and look forward to working with them on implementing the Action Plan in Southampton.”
Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Emma Reynolds said:
“Waste criminals have been damaging our communities, countryside, environment and economy for too long. This Action Plan sends a clear message: dump illegally and you will face the full consequences.
“Waste criminals will be forced to join clean up squads and made to pay for the clearing of illegal waste sites. We will give enforcement officers new police-style powers to bring offenders to justice.”
“Southampton residents have had to put up with appalling rates of fly-tipping for too long, my heart goes out to those in Newtown and Portswood in particular who suffer incidents at such a high level. This plan is a real step forward. Fly-tippers now know that if they dump their waste in Southampton, there will be real consequences.”