Scottish Conservatives have renewed a call for local authorities to have more powers to curb the “scourge” of fly-tipping.
There have been recent incidents of fly-tipping recently in some parts of Scotland, and MSPs Liz Smith and Murdo Fraser are both concerned that there could be another spike in cases in Mid Scotland and Fife over the coming weeks and months.
Commenting, Liz Smith MSP, said: “At present, the powers to issue fines for those who are involved in fly-tipping fall to local authorities but in practice they are seldom used because of procedural issues, including problems in collecting evidence. Councils therefore have their hands effectively tied so it is time for us to renew a call to the Scottish Government to look at reviewing the legislation in a bid to increase the level of prosecution against those who take part in what has become a scourge on the landscape.
“Fly-tipping was a problem before the outbreak of Covid, but we have seen incidence of it increase during the pandemic, with items of rubbish being dumped on land throughout Mid Scotland and Fife. The people who are involved in fly-tipping don’t care that they are ruining the environment and causing unnecessary work for local authorities in cleaning the mess up that they leave, and the cost involved in doing so.
“There needs to be more powers given to councils to enable them to be able to increase fines, which should act as a deterrent to those thinking about this abhorrent crime.”
And Mr Fraser added: “I recently asked the Scottish Government to look at changing the legislation which empowers local authorities to act on fly-tipping and was told they would consider doing this.
However, we need to keep pressing the Scottish Government on this as it is problem that won’t go away – it will only increase if nothing is done to increase deterrents.
“The present legislation covering fly-tipping is insufficient and should be updated so those who carry out what is essentially a blight on our landscape receive the correct punishment in the form of substantial fines.”