Days after it was revealed Liverpool Council is to crackdown harder on environmental crime flytippers have been spotted dumping in the north of the city.
Earlier this week, the ECHO reported how the local authority is creating a highly visible, dedicated taskforce to tackle environmental crime across Liverpool. A document published ahead of the council’s neighbourhoods committee meeting next week has revealed that a team of six officers will be deployed to get stuck in with a “targeted approach” focusing on known problem areas in the city as it looks to adopt a streamlined approach across its neighbourhoods directorate.
The council said it had seen successes in shaming those responsible for environmental crime and has taken to social media today to shine an online spotlight on offenders once again. A screenshot of CCTV footage showed a driver of a white van seeming to throw waste over a fence in Old Swan.
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In a tweet Liverpool Council said: “It took these flytipping decorators just 90 seconds to empty this van. But thanks to CCTV, driver is looking at a £400 fine.
“And potentially losing said van. Could have driven to Old Swan recycling centre in 10 mins & tipped it for free. A letter is on its way.”
The half dozen new officers to be deployed to tackle offences will be a “highly visible uniformed team who can be deployed proactively to deal with environmental issues” according to a council report ahead of the neighbourhoods committee next week. Earlier this year, a review of local authority’s capacity and capability with regards to enforcement was undertaken which found that while there is a strong willingness to carry out enforcement duties there were a number of obstacles to delivering formal actions.
Earlier this week thousands of tonnes of waste which would have been illegally dumped in a Liverpool warehouse was prevented by an undercover operation. The major fly tipping incident was prevented by the Environment Agency and Liverpool City Council’s Neighbourhood Services team, supported by the Joint Unit for Waste Crime and Merseyside Police.
The joint operation revealed that criminals had broken into an empty warehouse in North Liverpool and bypassed the electricity supply to install a lighting system. They had also created false site advertisement boards to suggest to members of the public that a legitimate waste operation, including the deposit of asbestos waste, was being established.
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