Call made for flytipping fines to be increased

A MEMBER of Glasgow City Council has called for fines to be increased, to punish flytippers.

At the end of 2021, the Scottish Government launched a consultation on litter and flytipping – here – which elicited 978 responses: 892 from individuals, the remainder from organisations.

And now the Glasgow City Council media office is quoting ‘senior councillor’, Ruairi Kelly, speculating that the current fines are absorbed into the flytippers’ business calculations – and so represent no deterrent whatsoever.

Says the Scottish Government, here: “There are fixed penalties of £80 for littering and £200 for flytipping (from 1 April 2014). Alleged offenders are required by law to provide their name and address to enforcement officers (from 1 June 2014).

“Penalties can be issued by the police, by local authorities, and – since 1 April 2015 – by public bodies including Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

“If the case goes to court, a person who is caught littering will have to pay a fine of up to £2,500. Someone convicted of flytipping could be fined up to £40,000 and/or imprisoned for up to 12 months.”

Cllr Kelly is quoted, here, as saying: “Fines and sentencing for flytipping need to be an adequate deterrent to what has become an endemic problem across much of the city of Glasgow, along with the rest of the country. But right now they’re not.”

Picture credit: Place Design Scotland

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