Irthlingborough man and Rushden woman handed big fines over fly-tipped rubbish

Two people from the north of the county have been handed big fines over ‘irresponsible’ fly-tipping incidents.

Business owner Ross Phillips, of Park Road in Irthlingborough, fly-tipped waste on private land in the town with evidence found by North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC’s) waste team.

At Northampton Magistrates’ Court he was convicted of a duty of care offence for not properly disposing of his waste and fined a total of £1,340.

As the waste was fly-tipped on private land it fell to the landowner to arrange for the fly tipping to be removed at her expense. But NNC and Northamptonshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner stepped in to help through a scheme to support landowners with the costs. A gate has also been installed at the entrance to the land to prevent unauthorised access and future fly-tipping.

Cllr Graham Lawman, NNC’s executive member for highways, travel and assets, said: “Fly-tipping is irresponsible and has a hugely negative impact on our local area and residents, not to mention the cost to landowners to clear up the dumped waste.

“The cost of clearing fly-tipped waste on public land is picked up by the taxpayer, which is frustrating enough for residents. But when it is left on private land, the landowner has to cover the cost of having it removed.”

Northamptonshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold said: "There is no excuse for fly-tipping as there are provisions around the county where waste can be taken, whether you are an individual or a business.”

In a separate incident, a firm in Coffee Tavern Lane, Rushden, had numerous bags of rubbish, a fish tank and cardboard left by their commercial bin in June 2021.

North Northamptonshire Council said evidence discovered by their officers led them to Tania Zaharia, of Pemberton Street in Rushden, who was fined a total of £949.50 for a duty of care offence.

Cllr Jason Smithers, leader of the council, added: “Unfortunately we have seen several cases of fly-tipping across north Northamptonshire over the past few months resulting in prosecution and considerable fines being issued. We have a zero-tolerance policy on fly-tipping and, although a last resort for officers, we will send cases to court if necessary.”