Council leader hits back after Oldham Lib-Dems urge 'maximum penalty' for littering and fly-tipping

Oldham Council’s Liberal Democrat Opposition Group have urged the ruling Labour Party to enforce “the maximum penalty” for littering and fly-tipping offences across the Borough. 

Liberal Democrat Leader, councillor Howard Sykes MBE, said that council bosses “must prove to people that they are serious about handling the basics.” 

Councillor Sykes’ comments come after the government announced new maximum fines of £1,000 for fly-tipping (up from £400 previously), as well as new, steeper fines for graffiti and other environmental crimes. 

Councillor Sykes said: “By the Council’s own estimate, it costs £2,500 per day to tackle fly-tipping. 

"People who blight our streets and our green spaces with dumped rubbish should pay the maximum penalty. 

"The Council must make full use of these new powers and crack down on offenders.”

Councillor Sykes added: “Fly-tipping offences have spiralled out of control in Oldham. 

"We are seeing far sharper increases when compared with our neighbours. 

"Yet despite this, Oldham’s Labour leadership is issuing fewer fines than they managed during the covid years. 

"This is clearly not good enough. 

"The Council must prove to people that they are serious about handling the basics.” 

Councillor Arooj Shah, Leader of Oldham Council, has responded strongly to Councillor Sykes' comments by insisting that the fight against fly-tipping and littering will continue.

She said: “I launched Don’t Trash Oldham after listening to residents - they want us to clean up neighbourhoods and take action against those who dump rubbish and litter.

“And we’ve done that.

"Since September 2021 we have fined more than 600 people for environmental crimes.

"We’ve also successfully prosecuted dozens more in court and more cases are pending.

“But we aren’t naïve, we know fly-tipping and littering won’t go away - they are problems across the country and raising fines isn’t the silver bullet Cllr Sykes seems to think it is.

"Perhaps next time Cllr Sykes wants to urge something maybe he should get in touch with us directly instead of sending out a press release.

“We are already seeing people being taken to court because they cannot pay the on the spot fines our officers have given them.

“We’ll continue to take enforcement action when we find evidence, but through Don’t Trash Oldham we are also using different and new ways of letting people know that getting rid of waste is their responsibility.

“We’ve got engagement teams out in our neighbourhoods talking to residents and making sure they have all the information they need when it comes to waste and recycling.

“We’ve installed bigger street bins across the borough and work with schools, housing providers and community groups to highlight the issues.

"We also encourage people to use Bulky Bob’s - rather than a man with a van they’ve found on Facebook - because their unwanted furniture could be donated to a family in need.

“The government recently announced they are running a consultation that could see council’s being allowed to use money from fines to pay for more enforcement officers.

“We would support that because years of austerity have meant we do not have the resources for our officers to be everywhere at once.”

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