Actions and fines against fly-tippers increase in Leeds.

The number of fines given out has progressively increased in the last 6 years and the number of reported incidents has decreased with 14,691 incidents less than 2017. In 2022 the council also sent out 18 warning letters where as in other years there were none.

Hyde Park in Leeds is notorious for antisocial behaviour including fly tipping, Izzy Willis, age 20, is a student in the area,

"There's always rubbish down here, Big stuff like fridges and mattresses, but on the actual street its a lot tidier. A van comes round when something gets reported to collect it, so nothing is ever here for long,"

Jordan Richards, another local said that, "I think that everyone dislikes Hyde park for the wrong reasons, like yeah we have a load of graffiti and noise complaints but that doesn't mean we want your rubbish on our streets..."

"...half the time its people coming from out of the area to leave stuff here because they think its fine as the place is a mess anyway. Like, we don't want your crap, take it to skip or something,"

The council has changed the ways in which they deal with fly tipping offences and it can be seen in the amount and total value of fines they issue and collect from offenders.

since 2019 the amount of money being collected by Leeds city council has sky rocketed as more fines are being handed out even though the number of offences seems to be increasing.

P.C. Mathew Ayers from the West Yorkshire neighbourhood policing force said, "I does seem that the more fines we give out the less cases there is of fly tipping. I don't know if its because people were not aware of its illegality before or because its scared people into not doing it, especially in urban areas, but its definitely working,"

"It's not an easy thing to police you know, sometimes something gets reported, we send the van out but its already been taken, I think the students love a free chair or sofa, random stuff like that."

"Also out in the more rural areas where no one has seen whose done it or the vehicle they were in then its impossible to persecute them because ultimately the police is not going to spend all their resources on fining a fly tipper when there's armed robberies and worse going on,"

Kearan Pearson works in a take away shop that has been affected by fly tipping, "Once I was opening and I went out back to bring the bins in and there was just a mattress blocking the gate back gate."

"It mainly just shops down this street so someone would have to had carried it here. Its the only time its ever been an issue though really and the council do such a good job with the van that drives round,"

he added, "What the area needs and what the council needs to figure out is a place to put a skip where he community and the student can dump their things for free without getting a fine or messing up the streets. because most people don't have a car to go to a tip or even know where one is,"