Councillor Jermy, the Chairman of the Task & Finish Group, thanked the Members for their time spent on this matter of fly-tipping, meeting on three occasions during the autumn of 2018.  He also thanked the Officers involved who contributed the meetings as well as the external guests that had attended.

Councillor Jermy would have preferred Members of the T&F Group to scrutinise the report prior to it being presented to the Commission; however, he felt that all involved now had a better understanding of fly-tipping issues.

Officers had been able to confirm that all Councils across Norfolk were working together to tackle fly-tipping and that the materials being used for the county-wide campaign had been based on best practice in other counties.

The Norfolk Scrap campaign had recently been launched by Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Waste Enforcement Group (NWEG) had been tasked with dealing with the increased activity; an Officer from Breckland Council was a member of this Group.

Members were informed that communication was key and the function on the Council’s website that allowed residents to upload photos as well as map locations had increased the speed at which fly tips were responded to and also allowed the evidence used to pursue the individual for the offence.

Councillor Wilkinson was aware of the problems that Breckland District was having with fly-tipping and suggested that the information gathered should be forwarded to Norfolk County Council.  The Chairman concurred with this suggestion but felt that a letter should be sent to Norfolk County Council informing them about these findings and a watching brief be kept on all activity.  She also suggested that a further report be brought back to an Overview & Scrutiny Commission meeting in 6 months.

The Chairman thanked Councillor Jermy, Members and the Officers involved for the comprehensive report.

RESOLVED that a progress report be brought back to the Overview & Scrutiny Commission in 6 months.