Dedicated team to patrol fly tipping hotspots
Mid Suffolk District CouncilA council is enlisting the help of a dedicated team to deal with fly tipping and graffiti - and issue warning notices to those caught in the act.
The two-person "respond, enforce and clean team" - or React - will patrol litter hotspot areas in the Mid Suffolk District Council area.
It will be funded by £360,000 from the council-owned Gateway 14 development.
The authority's cabinet member for environment, Tim Weller, said the new taskforce would "increase the council's capacity to respond to urgent and reactive street cleaning issues".
The team has a dedicated van and will be patrolling the entire district, and will "gather evidence and issue warnings and notices".
Mr Weller added: "Introducing React operatives mean reactive cleansing incidents, such as fly tipping, and our scheduled work, aren't competing for resource and time."
How bad is fly tipping in Suffolk?
According to the latest figures released by Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), local authorities in England dealt with 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents last year, an increase of 6% from those reported in 2022/23.
In Suffolk, there were a total of 4,099 incidents of fly tipping reported in 2023/24, with East Suffolk Council accounting for nearly half of all fly tipping reports.
In the area of Mid Suffolk District Council there were 399 reported incidents, with the majority of them being on highways.
Budget surplus
The Green Party-led authority was the only council in Suffolk to freeze its portion of the council tax.
It was able to do this because it has surplus funds in its budget from its ownership and sale of the Gateway 14 development on the outskirts of Stowmarket.
Gateway 14 is part of Freeport East, a government scheme which has relaxed customs and planning regulations, plus tax incentives for companies which base themselves there.
Business rates collected on the development get reinvested into the local community.
The decision to make the investment into Gateway 14 was made by the previous Conservative administration.
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