Fly-tipping stats: Lib Dems demand serious waste crime be made a National Crime Agency priority

EMBARGO: Immediate Release 

Responding to the Government's publishing the annual statistics on fly-tipping, which has found that around 52,000 incidents were of 'tipper load lorry' size or larger, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Tim Farron said:

"These figures show the equivalent of 142 monster landfills a day took place, confirming what communities across the country know all too well - our beautiful countryside is being used by criminal gangs as their personal landfill.

"For far too long, waste gangs have pocketed millions in illegal earning, poisoning our environment and our health without consequence. The Liberal Democrats are demanding an end to this environmental vandalism.

“We want serious waste crime to become a strategic priority for the National Crime Agency. It's the NCA who should take over investigations from the Environment Agency in the most serious cases and stop these criminal waste gangs in their tracks. It is time for both Labour and the Conservatives to stop dragging their feet and back our amendment.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

A link to the Lib Dem amendment in the House of Lords from Earl Russell, seeking to make serious waste crime an NCA priority can be found here. Today's stats show the number of prosecution actions has decreased by 14% from 1,598 in 2023/24 to 1,377 in 2024/25 (Table 2).

Full statistics can be found here.