Fly-tipping in town hits 10-year high

Fly‑tipping in Barnsley has reached its highest level in a decade, council figures show.

The number of offences recorded have risen from 3,799 in 2015/16 to 5,932 in 2024/25, according to data obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

The figures from Barnsley Council also show the cost of collecting and disposing of illegally dumped waste has risen over the same period, from £331,687 to £429,397.

Councillor James Higginbottom, cabinet spokesperson for environment and highways, said fly-tipping continued to have a significant impact on communities across the borough.

The figures show the number of reports have fluctuated over time, with a previous high of 5,820 instances recorded during the Covid pandemic in 2020/21.

In terms of its lowest spend, this was in 2022/23 when the council spent £276,045 dealing with 4,597 reports of fly-tipping, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Higginbottom said: "Costs have continued to rise due to new regulations such as persistent organic pollutants regulations, which demand affected furniture being separated for incineration."

The councillor said the authority continued to "take strong action against those who scourge our borough".

He said enforcement teams had carried out more than "1,000 fly-tipping and waste related investigations in 2025" which had led to 98 fixed penalty notices for environmental offences - 32 of them for fly-tipping.

In addition, Higginbottom said the council had invested £3.5m this year, which included "a new housing and environmental taskforce to provide targeted support to clean up communities across Barnsley and support residents to dispose of their waste both lawfully and safely."

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North