A local council has rejected calls to scrap its rubbish tip's booking system after the area saw the biggest rise in fly-tipping in Wales. A Welsh Government report last month found Newport saw a whopping 87% increase in fly-tipping incidents from April 2021 to March 2022 compared to the same period the previous year - the biggest rise of any area in Wales.
Newport also saw more reports of fly-tipping than any other council area in the past year, with 7,621 reports in 2021/22 up from 4,060 the previous year. All other areas of Gwent saw a fall in the number of reports, with Caerphilly recording 1,980 incidents. The only other Welsh council which recorded more than 7,000 incidents was Cardiff, which saw 7,494 incidents in 2021/22.
In its report of the figures, which were recorded by local authorities, Welsh Government said the increases in Newport had been "partly due to restricted access to household waste recycling centres, multiple load figures and improved reporting mechanisms." Newport City Council introduced a booking system at its household recycling centre during the Covid pandemic in 2020, a decision which was met with a mixed response. While some welcomed the system, others have cited issues with lack of availability or technical issues preventing them from booking an appointment.
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And this week saw the issue raised by Newport city councillor Mark Howells, who asked whether a review of the booking system was being considered in light of the fly-tipping figures. He said: "In light of the recent report concerning the fly-tipping issues in Newport, what proactive steps does the cabinet member propose to do to reduce these levels and is one of those options being considered a review of the booking system at Newport household recycling centre?"
But Cllr Yvonne Forsey said there was ""no evidence" to suggest any link between the booking system and higher figures, adding that these were down to increased efforts by the council to tackle fly-tipping. She said: "The increase in cases reported is just a consequence of the increased activity carried out by the council teams to tackle fly-tipping. The cabinet invested in a second dedicated fly-tipping response team, and there have been increased action and enforcement against fly-tipping - which has led to a higher frequency of incidents being proactively detected and reported."
"There is no evidence to link the booking system at Newport household recycling centre to an increase in fly-tipping. The booking system has brought many benefits in a number of areas that traditionally posed a problem on site and that impacted on safety, performance and customer satisfaction. It has also resulted in improved recycling performance and the council being awarded HWRC site of the year last year. A similar system is now used in most councils in Wales."
Ms Forsey said residents reporting incidents through its MyNewport app had helped the council record the the second highest number of successful prosecutions against fly-tippers in Wales, adding that the council would continue to work with volunteers, registered landlords and other organisations to take action.
Last year an empty stretch of road in Newport was finally cleared decades after becoming a fly-tipping hotspot. The abandoned dual carriageway off the A48 in Coedkernew was dubbed the 'road to nowhere' after huge amounts of illegal dumping saw it featured on national TV, but in October 2021 the council contracted a company to clear the site after years of campaigning by locals and volunteers. You can read more about that here.
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