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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address fly-tipping in rural areas.

We appreciate the difficulty that fly-tipping poses to landowners. We are working with stakeholders, such as the National Farmers Union and local authorities, through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group to share good practice, including how to prevent fly-tipping on private land.

As part of the Government’s commitment to unleash rural opportunity, we are currently funding a post within the new National Rural Crime Unit to explore how the police’s role in tacking fly-tipping can be optimised, with a focus on rural areas.

Across two rounds of our fly-tipping grant scheme, we have awarded nearly £1.2m to help more than 30 councils tackle fly-tipping at known hot-spots, including in rural areas, such as by installing CCTV. We are currently reviewing applications for a third round of grants, which could see a further £1m handed out in the spring to help even more councils tackle the issue.