Fly-tipping and environmental crime

It is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for any person to deposit waste on any land unless there is a permit in force to allow that deposit to take place (ie rubbish must be left at authorised waste disposal facilities).   

South Staffordshire District Council have a responsibility to clear fly-tipping from public land. We undertake operations to prevent fly-tipping from taking place and will prosecute people for fly tipping where there is sufficient evidence to do so.   

We cannot remove rubbish from private land, however, where appropriate, we will prosecute people for fly tipping on private land in partnership with the landowner.   

Offenders can be prosecuted for: 

• fly-tipping
• knowingly causing or permitting fly-tipping
• failing to take “reasonable steps” to prevent their waste from being fly tipped, ie only transferring their waste to an authorised carrier and taking details of the person/business who takes their waste away.  You can check if someone holds a waste carrier’s licence here: Waste Carriers, Brokers and Dealers (environment.data.gov.uk)
• carrying waste commercially without a licence
• failing to produce waste transport notes upon request
• collecting or dealing in scrap metal without a licence 

Report fly-tipping via our Online Form

To throw down, drop or otherwise deposit and leave litter in any place open to the air, including private land, is a criminal offence under section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA), (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005).

Please report instances of littering using our Online Form

It can be determined if a vehicle has been abandoned by applying the following criteria.  

• Overall condition, age and appearance of the vehicle such as if it is significantly damaged, run down or unroadworthy, for example - flat tyres, missing wheels or broken windows. 
• If the vehicle has been left in situ for over 21 days. 
• If the vehicle is burnt out. 
• If the vehicle has no valid road tax and an MOT in place. 
• If the number plate is missing. 
• If the vehicle has a significant amount of rubbish or waste inside and looks untidy. 

At least one of the above must apply for a vehicle to be considered as abandoned: 

Please be aware that there could be legitimate reasons why a car has been left somewhere, i.e: 

• The owner of the vehicle could be visiting a friend or relative. 
• The owner could have suddenly been taken ill or gone into hospital. 
• The owner is on holiday and left the car at a different location. 
• The vehicle has broken down. 

Before reporting an abandoned vehicle, please check the vehicle's legal Tax and MOT status via Gov.uk. 

If a vehicle is untaxed, then please report the vehicle to the DVLA.

Once you have considered the above, you can report an abandoned vehicle to the Council for investigation via our Online Form - please include the following information 

Make and model (e.g. Ford Mondeo), colour, registration number, location and general condition of vehicle. 

The process

Once a vehicle has been reported to the Council, a site visit will be carried out within 14 working days of receipt of the report. If the Council considers the vehicle to be abandoned, a notice will be placed on the vehicle. This notice will give 15 days for the vehicle to be removed from the location in question. 

Once the 15 days period has passed, the Council will carry out a site visit to establish whether the car has been removed. If the vehicle is still in situ, the vehicle will be removed and potentially destroyed under the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 Section 3 (1)(5). 

However, if the vehicle is in a dangerous condition, the Council will arrange removal within 24 hours. If the vehicle is causing an obstruction on the highway, then please report the vehicle to the Police on the non-emergency telephone number; 101. 

Are your details kept confidential? 

Under the Data Protection Act the name and address of the person making the report or any other contact details, will not be disclosed. 

The Council will use the contact details you provide in order to update you on the progress of the case. 

Please report instances of dog fouling using our Online Form

Please report instances of fly-posting to envirocrime@sstaffs.gov.uk