One of 32 Bills set to go before Parliament this season, Defra said the bill plays a “key role” in its plan to create “cleaner, safer, greener” communities.
”The Bill provides local authorities and agencies with the extra tools they need to tackle environmental crime. “
– Margaret Beckett
If the Bill is passed by Parliament before next year's election, a package of measures would give local authorities and the Environment Agency more powers to deal with illegal waste disposal, fly-tipping and litter. Abandoned vehicles, fly posting and graffiti will also be targeted by the Bill.
Announcing the Bill today, Secretary of State Margaret Beckett said: “People want to live in greener communities that are well-designed and have attractive public spaces – not ones degraded by rubbish and waste.
“Again and again, people tell us that local problems that affect the quality of their everyday lives is a top priority. The Bill will help local authorities and agencies, it provides them with the extra tools they have told us they need to tackle environmental crime and improve the local environment,” Mrs Beckett explained.
The Bill gives councils and the Environment Agency the powers to use 100 to 300 fixed penalty fines as an alternative to prosecution for environmental crimes.
Powers
For fly-tipping offences, penalties will be increased, and fly-tippers will no longer be able to use the defence of “acting under employer's instructions”. Councils and the Agency will have more power to recover investigation and clear-up costs and in the absence of a site occupier, clear-up responsibilities would fall to landowners.
Councils and the Agency would be able to issue fixed penalties to businesses that fail to produce waste transfer notes for their waste. Waste carriers would be similarly penalised for not producing registration details or licence exemption evidence. And, local authorities will be able to issue penalties for waste left out on streets.
The Bill would also introduce a more effective system for searching and seizing vehicles used in illegal waste disposal operations. Other new measures would include new Duty of Care provisions for waste carriers, a requirement for construction and demolition sites to produce waste management plans.
Recycling credits
The recycling credits system is also to be reformed if the Bill is passed by Parliament.
The changes mean that a waste disposal authority is not required to make payments to a waste collection authority under the recycling credits system if other arrangements have been made between the councils. This will provide a greater flexibility for local authorities to “deliver waste management services in the most sustainable way”, Defra said.
For a full copy of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill, see the Parliament website.
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