Successful waste prosecutions come to fruition

Blackburn with Darwen borough council’s environmental crime team have secured 22 waste prosecutions recently, totalling £14,584.

In the last 6 months, the result of 22 waste prosecutions has been decided for a mixture of offences in the borough including fly tipping, littering, waste accumulation and waste on land.

Despite being contacted by the council regarding their offences initially, the perpetrators had not paid their fines and therefore their cases were passed on to the courts. The offences date back as far as 2022, however the successful outcomes show that perseverance pays off.

The highest fine given to an individual was £660 and the lowest was £146; however court costs also have to be paid on top. The total of all fines was £14,584.

In the last financial year, the environmental crime team had a total of 122 successful fixed penalty notices paid into the service.

Councillor Shaukat Hussain, Assistant Executive Member for Environment and Operations said:

The environmental crime team do a fantastic job in enforcing waste issues and fly tipping across the borough, to improve the area for all who live or work in it. Despite being a small team, they are committed and passionate about the work they carry out which is obvious in the number of successful prosecutions received. This is a huge deterrent to anybody who is considering fly tipping or creating a waste issue. Thank you to all who were involved.

If you would like to report fly tipping or a waste issue in the borough, please contact the environmental crime team on envirocrime@blackburn.gov.uk.