DEALING with fly-tipping has cost St Helens Council approximately £570,000 over the past two years.

But the authority says tackling the issue remains a "high priority".

The National Audit Office (NAO) has carried out an investigation into the Government’s actions to combat waste crime in England.

The NAO report found that the number of active illegal waste sites in England known to the Environment Agency has reduced from 685 in 2018-19 to 470 in 2020-21.

The impact of Covid

However, travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in fewer cases being identified.

It also found that the number of fly-tipping incidents reported by local authorities has risen most years since 2012-13 and reached 1.13 million in 2020-21 – at a cost of £11.6 million to clear large-scale incidents.

Most incidents involved household waste, and the most common place for fly-tipping to occur was on highways.

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime was established in January 2020 to tackle serious and organised crime in the waste sector and consists of nine strategic partner organisations.

The NAO also found that organised crime groups have become more involved in waste crime.

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The 60 organised crime groups monitored by the Joint Unit have extensive involvement in other types of crime – 70 per cent are involved in specialist money laundering. Over the first half of 2021-22, the Joint Unit led or took part in 24 coordinated days of action with partners to prevent and disrupt the involvement of organised crime groups in the waste sector, resulting in 35 arrests.

St Helens Council's response

St Helens Council has issued a statement after confirming dealing with fly-tipping has cost it approximately £570,000 over the past two years.

A spokesperson said: “Tackling the problem of fly tipping remains a high priority for the council.

“We have a dedicated team that tackles and removes fly-tipping across the borough and we aim to remove any reported fly tipping within ten working days.

“In addition, we regularly monitor the amount of calls we receive on this issue and review what resources are required to deal with incidents as they occur.”