Partnership working tackles fly-tipping in Ringland
Posted on Tuesday 13th October 2020
Newport City Homes (NCH), Newport's largest social housing provider, has been working with Ringland residents and Newport City Council to tackle fly-tipping in the area.
Over recent months, there has been a significant increase in fly-tipping in the area behind Ringland shops. As well as being unsightly, this kind of fly-tipping causes both health and safety and serious fire risks to people living in the surrounding area.
Mark Chircop, resident services officer from Newport City Homes, said: "Fly-tipping is dangerous, unacceptable and impacts on our residents enjoying their homes and local environment. At one point, we were collecting up to two small lorry loads of illegally dumped rubbish a day from the site. This is unacceptable and simply not fair to residents who manage their waste in a responsible way, so we wanted to take action to address this anti-social behaviour.
"To find those responsible for this anti-social behaviour, we worked with Newport City Council to find those responsible and bring them to justice. We did this by going through the fly-tipped waste to find out who had dumped their rubbish which resulted in the council issuing 18 warning notices to people whose waste they found in the dumped rubbish.
"Since then, there's been a huge reduction of fly-tipping in the area. We've gone from removing up to 250 black bags worth of fly-tipped rubbish a day to around 20 bags a week. This is an incredible achievement and we couldn't have done it without working in partnership.
"We know we can't tackle this problem alone, which is why working with the local community and our partners is so important. We want to thank Ringland residents for helping us achieve this and taking such pride in your community. By working together and supporting each other, we're making our communities safer and nicer places to live."
Councillor Roger Jeavons, Newport City Council's cabinet member for city services, said: "There are absolutely no excuses for fly-tipping and everyone has to take responsibility for the safe disposal of what is their own waste. Illegally dumping it is not fair on other residents and has a cost, both to the environment and to those who have to pay to remove it.
"I'm delighted that the council has been able to work in partnership with Newport City Homes to tackle this problem in Ringland with such positive results and I would like to thank the employees from both organisations for their hard work.
"Finally, I would like to warn others who are considering fly-tipping that we will do everything in our power to identify those responsible and we will take action against you. Perpetrators face fines of up to £50,000 and up to 12 months in prison."