Published May 14, 2021 at 9:25
A Rossendale householder who failed to ensure their waste was collected and disposed of correctly has been issued with a £300 fixed penalty notice under the Environmental Protection Act.
The resident arranged for waste to be collected from their home address but didn’t check if the person removing the waste was authorised to do so, or where the rubbish would be disposed of.
Rossendale council officers who attended to remove the rubbish discovered details of the householder amongst the items. Enquiries then made by the council’s Environmental Crime enforcement team resulted in the householder admitting that they had not complied with their duty of care in relation to the disposal of waste.
Councillor Steve Hughes, Cabinet member for Communities said: “Rossendale Council takes issues such as this very seriously and is committed to delivering a cleaner and greener borough.”
Rossendale Council has recently expanded its enforcement team to tackle incidents of environmental crime and deal with those responsible.
“We have stepped up enforcement and will take a tough stance with those who blight our communities with fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, littering and dog fouling.
“We won’t hesitate to issue these fixed penalties where we find evidence and urge people to ensure that they are correctly and legally disposing of their rubbish. If they fail to make proper checks, they are liable to one of the fixed penalty notices themselves. We hope incidents such as this will deter others from acting in a similar way.”
Rossendale receives over 900 reports a year of fly tipping across the Borough which costs the council around £40,000 a year.