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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce fly tipping in North East Somerset and Hanham.

Local councils are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their area and have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution action.

To support councils to make better use of their power to seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers, we have published best practice guidance and case studies on the website of the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group. Defra also chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping.

In addition, we have recently secured powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 to provide statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.

We have also obtained powers in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 for the courts to award up to 9 penalty points on driving licences for those found guilty of fly-tipping. This would make it harder for offenders to continue dumping illegally if they are disqualified from driving and send a clear warning that fly-tipping is not tolerated.