Battle farmer urges for fly tipping crackdown after asbestos and cannabis dumped on land
John Marland's among other farmers urging for the government to publish their promised strategy on tackling rural crime
A Battle farmer's urging for a crackdown on fly tipping after asbestos and cannabis plants were dumped on his land.
John Marland is among others in the community calling for the government's rural crime strategy, which was promised ahead of last year's election, to be published as soon as possible after a spike in illegal waste dumping.
Reports of fly tipping in Mid Sussex have gone up by 76%, while some areas in Crawley have seen incidents jump by 32%, according to Defra.
Meanwhile, a further snapshot survey by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) found 90% of farmers responding had seen items such as tyres, fridges, and sofas abandoned on their land.
"Heart wrenching" to see
John said it comes at a "huge emotional cost" to both himself, and wildlife:
"I've personal experience of seeing all sorts of material illegally tipped on the farmland.
"Paints, poisons, contents of garden sheds, pots that animals can creep in and cannot get out.
"Even worse still is where animals have put their head inside a little jar and, again, got stuck.
"It's immensely heart wrenching to find this."
He suggested that making it easier to dispose of large amounts of waste could be one way to combat the issue:
"At the end of the day, the criminals are not creating the rubbish.
"The criminal act is taking somebody's rubbish to what they think to a registered waste site, or a renewable site - when in fact, that criminal is simply taking it and tipping it in a field.
"We need to try and get to the point where all the rubbish is taken from the legitimate people who have produced it and into a registered waste site where it can be recycled, reused or rehomed."
"Under-policed" farms and countryside "increasingly targeted"
The CLA's Regional Director Tim Bamford added that “Rural communities have had enough of fly-tipping and waste crime and the government must act":
"Farmers and the countryside are increasingly being targeted by organised crime gangs – often violent – who know that rural areas are under-policed and so they target them.
"The long-promised rural crime strategy needs to be published as soon as possible.
“It’s not just litter blotting the landscape, but tonnes of household and commercial waste which can often be hazardous – even including asbestos and chemicals – endangering farmers, wildlife, livestock, crops and the environment.
“As Labour itself has pointed out, the crime rate in rural areas has surged by 32 per cent since 2011, faster than in urban areas.
People, communities and businesses deserve to feel safe and protected, and the first place to start must surely be ending the chronic under-funding of rural police forces."