At Basingstoke and Deane we firmly believe in integrating environmental issues and action into the culture of our borough. One of the key factors in achieving this is education with schools and colleges and working with businesses and the community.
Another essential element is the enforcement of environmental legislation. As part of our drive to make our borough a cleaner and greener environment we target offenders who commit environmental crime.
Unfortunately like any area, we suffer from environmental crime perpetuated by the irresponsible few. Our team is working hard to prosecute these offenders who damage, spoil and pollute the community we live in.
We follow cases throughout the prosecution process, from the service of a Notice to an individual or business, to performing an in-depth background check and conducting interviews under caution.
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council takes a very strict enforcement approach against people who commit these crimes. This approach has led to us being recognized by DEFRA for achieving the highest rating for enforcement actions taken against fly tippers in 2010
We have achieved this by investigating and prosecuting all instances of fly tipping where we find evidence of a suspect. We have also increased our proactive investigations through the use of business inspections and working with the police on stop and search operations targeting waste carriers. As well as the police we also work closely with many other external organizations such as the Environment Agency, housing associations and local landowners.
Fly tipping
If you have any information about people who have been fly-tipping (dumping rubbish), tagging or doing graffiti in the borough please contact us on Tel: 01256 844844.
Below is a guide to reporting fly-tipping or any sort of antisocial behaviour. If possible please make a note of:
- The day, date and time you saw the activity taking place,
- What you saw,
- How many people were involved and what they looked like,
- What they were actually doing,
- Any vehicles involved: their make, model, colour and registration number,
- Where you were when you saw the incident
- What kind of view you had,
- How far away you were.
- The weather and light conditions,
- In the case of fly tipping what was dumped ( household or business waste, garden rubbish, broken furniture etc)
- How much was dumped (black sacks, wheelbarrow full of green waste, contents of a car boot, van load etc )
Please do not put yourself at any risk if you witness an incident. Do not approach any person you suspect of fly tipping, your personal safety is always the most important thing.
Legislation
For Environmental enforcement we generally work under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. There have been a number of recent changes to legislation that is relevant to us, the major one being the change in antisocial behaviour laws. We now have more authority and power when dealing with antisocial criminal activity.
Latest News
A local man was prosecuted for dumping business waste in the Oakridge area of the town. In December 2010 Adrian Lucas pleaded guilty to illegally disposing of waste and was fined £600 as well as having to pay for the clear up costs of £76.50 and a contribution towards legal costs of £300. The victim surcharge of £15 was also applied leaving a total of £991.50 to pay.
We have also been involved in a number of stop and search operation with the police in recent months. These have targeted commercial vehicles carrying waste without a licence. Any person caught transporting waste without a licence can be issued with a fixed penalty notice of £300 or a maximum £5000 fine on prosecution. For more information on obtaining a licence please click here.
