{"id":21781,"date":"2022-12-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=21781"},"modified":"2022-12-15T09:53:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T08:53:28","slug":"countryfile-issues-john-craven-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2022\/12\/14\/countryfile-issues-john-craven-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Countryfile issues: John Craven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
COUNTRYFILE ISSUES <\/span><\/h5>\n\n

John Craven<\/h2>\n\n
\n\n

COUNTRYSIDE WASTE CRIME REACHES CRISIS POINT<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Crime comes in many forms and among the latest to get its own category is \u2018waste crime\u2019. This is the illegal dumping of solid or liquid waste on land or water that costs the UK economy at least \u00a31 billion every year \u2013 the price of a new hospital. <\/p>\n\n

We\u2019ve all seen with disgust the dreadful, dangerous eyesores that appear along country roads, lay-bys and field entrances \u2013 everything from stacks of tyres to mattresses, from building debris to garden rubbish. Often, it\u2019s the work of unscrupulous firms or individuals who offer to clear away waste for a cut-price fee and then discard it where no CCTV cameras are watching to avoid paying landfill tax. <\/p>\n\n

This type of organised crime is on the increase, as is the illegal exporting of waste, yet a recent report by MPs accuses DEFRA and the Environment Agency (EA) of making slow and piecemeal progress in tackling the \u201cantisocial, polluting and costly impacts\u201d of waste crime. Figures from 2020\/21 show that in England alone there were 1.13 million cases of fly-tipping a year (a rise of 16% on the previous year) and just under two-thirds involved household waste. But only around a quarter of waste crime gets reported and there is still no strategy for achieving the Government\u2019s much-vaunted target of eliminating it by 2043. <\/p>\n\n

That\u2019s according to the powerful House of Commons cross-party public accounts committee, whose chair Dame Meg Hillier (Labour, Hackney South and Shoreditch) says: \u201cThe result is property and countryside blighted by flytipping, toxic leaks into our soil and tonnes of waste illegally exported by the UK to developing countries even less able to cope with its indefinite negative effects. With the growing involvement of criminal gangs, adept at evading detection, and who regard fines if they are caught as merely a business expense, a much more serious approach to enforcement is required,\u201d adds Hillier. \u201cSadly, all the signs are that the problem is getting worse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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The huge cost of clearing up fly-tipping, such as this in the Peak District, falls on local authorities and private landowners <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

\u201cIn England alone there were 1.13 million cases of fly-tipping in 2020\/21\u201d <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

The committee\u2019s report raises concerns that the current cost-of-living crisis potentially \u201cincreases incentives for people to get rid of waste inappropriately\u201d. Penalties are not proving effective \u2013 for criminal gangs only jail sentences have a real impact \u2013 and HMRC has only investigated one alleged case of landfill tax fraud, which failed, at a cost to the public of \u00a33.5 million. <\/p>\n\n

TIME FOR ACTION <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The scale of waste creation in the UK is mind-boggling: well over 200 million tonnes a year. A new digital system by DEFRA and the EA should play a key role in tracking what happens to it, but after four years of development it is still at only the pilot stage. <\/p>\n\n

It was one of 14 actions outlined in the strategy to wipe out waste launched in 2018; by last year only three had been completed. Fewer crimes are being investigated, prosecutions have fallen and one of the most common official responses to most types of waste crime is a warning letter. According to the public accounts committee, the Government approach is closer to decriminalising it than to tackling it. <\/p>\n\n

Not so, comes the reply from Government sources, arguing a crackdown is underway, with more measures to come. What can\u2019t be denied is that, if we are to clean up our countryside, there is no time to waste. <\/p>\n\n

\n\n

Watch John on Countryfile, <\/em>Sunday evenings on BBC One. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Photo: Alamy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Countryside waste crime reaches crisis point<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":22211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"43","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"43","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_43-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_43-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"January-2023","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"January-2023","purple_external_id":"January-2023-43-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"January-2023-43-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000084064||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000084064||","purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.198","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.198","purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.198","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.198","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"91da22fd-9e7f-40d1-a93f-fc46e9516d91","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-12-14T13:32:48Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"b3c71d87-205f-44ce-a61b-d3f6fbb1f51b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-12-15T08:53:34Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAg==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/As8cdhyBfRM6mG9P2-7H1Gw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[27],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview.jpg",1772,1181,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/12\/EGCY9H_preview.jpg",1772,1181,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Countryside waste crime reaches crisis point","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21781"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21781"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22351,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21781\/revisions\/22351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}