Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on the extent to which fly-tipping incidents occur on or adjacent to woodland habitat on (a) council-owned land, (b) footpaths and bridleways, and (c) other land types.

Local authorities in England are required to report fly-tipping incidents to Defra, which are published annually here. Data for the 2024/25 reporting year is currently being processed.

Local authorities are required to report to Defra the size of a fly-tipping incident, its waste type and the land-type where it occurred. However, this does not cover if the area is a particular habitat or a woodland.

Defra regularly evaluates the data on fly-tipping incidents we collect from local authorities. There are no current plans to require local authorities to report additional data on fly-tipping to Defra.

While the Environment Agency (EA) collects data on the land type at the location of an illegal dumping incident and its environmental impact, the EA does not routinely collect data on whether it is a woodland area or the specific habitat type.