Fly-tipping in North Hertfordshire is slowing down, but a councillor fears changes to district bin collections could cause figures to rise.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday, April 18, waste leaders at North Herts Council revealed 839 fly-tipping incidents are on record for the 2022/23 financial year, which ended on March 31.

This is a four per cent drop compared with the previous year when there were 874 fly-tipping incidents in the district, and a 19 per cent drop on 2020/21 – with 1,048 records.

The Comet: Pig ears fly-tipped in Radwell, near Baldock, last January.

But despite falling figures, Conservative Councillor Ralph Muncer suggested numbers are “only set to increase further” if the council pushes ahead with a plan to “cut” black bag waste collections.

Under agreed plans, Labour and Liberal Democrat-led North Herts Council will introduce three-weekly collections for purple bins from 2025.

The authority worked in partnership with Conservative-led East Herts District Council to develop the new timetable.

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Labour Councillor Amy Allen, executive member for recycling and waste management, said: “We do not tend to come across household waste in fly tips.

“We usually find bigger items such as fridges, freezers, sofas and garden structures like decking.

"We have done cross-party workshops on this in North Hertfordshire.

“It passed the checks we have in place at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which is independent and chaired by a Conservative Group member.”

Cllr Allen said the three-weekly collection will apply to houses, and that collections at flats will “remain largely unchanged” from the current model.

Food waste will be collected weekly, and the recycling bin rota will remain similar to the pre-existing one.

When the new waste contract is brought in, recyclers will be able to put film and soft plastics in their recycling bins.

A report which councillors in North Herts and East Herts debated in October last years sets out: “It is likely that at the start of the service change, we will see a slight uplift in the number of fly tips.

“This is expected not to be significant as those residents who would consider fly-tipping are a very small minority.

“We will work with the enforcement teams at both authorities to ensure we have a planned approach to the management of fly-tipping of household waste expected to be as a result of the service change.”

The report adds North Herts Council shrunk the size of its wheelie bin design in previous years, when there was “no attributable long-term impact on fly-tipping”.

It reads: “Fly-tipping numbers in the first year of the service actually reduced when compared with the previous year and longer term trends are consistent with the wider Hertfordshire districts."

Cllr Muncer said: “Over the last few months I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors across North Hertfordshire and I’m yet to speak with someone who supports the plans of the Labour and Liberal Democrat administration to cut bin collections, which will lead to residents facing the worse collection rota in the East of England.

“In my opinion, this is a clear example of the council neglecting its statutory responsibilities and I have argued this cut, which apparently will save £270,000, should be reversed and the council ought to make savings and efficiencies elsewhere within its £18.5 million budget."