13 hours Ago By Luke Chillingsworth
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to spy on British drivers suspected of fly-tipping using drones and then “crush” the vehicles of offenders in a fresh crackdown. Posting on social media, the Prime Minister said technology would be used to “identify vehicles” before swift action was taken. He suggested fly-tippers had gone “unpunished” as he talked tough just hours before polls are set to open for the Local Elections.
The Prime Minister’s reaction comes hours after Labour's Environment Secretary Steve Reed warned the Government would be prepared to get “much more aggressive". Data shows that fly-tipping has increased with the number of incidents rising from 957,000 in 2018-19 to 1.15million in 2023-24.
Posting on social media site X , the Prime Minister said: “This is a message to the fly-tippers blighting our towns and villages: “For too long, your actions have gone unpunished. That ends now. We'll use drones and new tech to identify your vehicle.
Then we'll crush it.” According to the Government, councils will work with the police to identify vehicles believed to be owned by waste criminals. They confirmed that drones and mobile CCTV cameras will be deployed to identify cars and vans belonging to fly-tippers.
These vehicles will then be seized and eventually crushed at scrapping centres. Under the current rules, councils are forced to bear the cost of seizing and storing vehicles. However, more plans being considered by Ministers would see fly-tippers themselves cover the cost of any bills.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed suggested new technology would be adopted to enforce the rules and target rulebreakers. He said: “Councils will get much more aggressive against fly-tippers and that includes using the latest technology, things like the new mobile CCTV cameras and drones to identify, track and then seize the vehicles that are being used for fly-tipping to a yard like this and crush them.” The Government is making up to £69billion available in council budgets across England.
They say this 6.8% cash terms increase will help local authorities take on key responsibilities like fly-tipping. Labour also said they are also looking at cracking down rogue waste operators with the introduction of stricter penalties.
Mr Reed added: “We’re also looking to change the law so that those rogue operators who take rubbish from someone’s home and then dump it on a nearby road – they were getting away almost scot-free under the previous Government – they will now be looking at potentially five-year prison sentences.”.
