Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser has expressed his delight at the announcement of a new funding scheme which will tackle the scourge of fly-tipping.
He was commenting following the launch of Zero Waste Scotland’s Private Landowners Grant Fund which is aimed to assist private landowners with creating interventions that will prevent fly-tipping on private land.
The key objective is to support innovative projects that will: prevent fly-tipping on private land; engage local communities; facilitate the reporting of fly-tipping and enforcement of existing penalties.
Mr Fraser brought forward his Member’s Bill on Fly-tipping, which included running a consultation back in 2022. The purpose of this was to improve data collection and publication, adjust the liability both on generators of waste and on the innocent owners of land on which waste was dumped, and to increase the penalties for offenders.
Commenting, he said: “I am delighted to hear that Zero Waste Scotland have launched the Private Landowners Grant Fund, in a bid to cut down on the scourge of fly-tipping. This scheme touches on some of the main keys of my Members’ Bill, including facilitating the reporting of fly-tipping and the enforcement of existing penalties.
“Prior to the summer recess at Holyrood, the Scottish Government agreed to allow a council only to serve a notice requiring removal of waste where that authority is satisfied that the occupier or owner of the land deposited, or knowingly caused or knowing permitted the waste to be deposited as part of their Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill. This meant they agreed to my four key points of my Members’ Bill - increasing the liability on a generator of waste to ensure that this is properly disposed of; agreeing to my amendment to increase a fixed penalty from £500 to £1,000 at Stage 2 of the Bill, and agreeing another amendment which granted power to Scottish Ministers to require information from local authorities and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority in relation to reporting of incidents of unlawful depositing of waste, to allow collation and analysis of data around fly-tipping.”
Mr Fraser continued: “All these measures will undoubtedly help but we face a continuing battle here as we recently saw with waste being dumped recently on land near Abernyte. This included wooden posts, a metal stand and the remnants of a garden shed. However, I am heartened by this announcement, which is great news.
“This fund, which will be managed by Zero Waste Scotland, will help tackle fly-tipping and I would encourage private landowners to apply for it. The maximum funding which can be applied for is £20,000.”
