Illegal waste 'driven to Kent from Scotland'

Gangs are shipping illegal waste to Kent from as far afield as "Scotland and Wales" and dumping it, according to the county's police and crime commissioner.

Matthew Scott said police intelligence on organised criminals was "often lost due to a lack of collaboration" between law enforcement organisations.

The Environment Agency said waste crime cost the economy about £1bn a year and it was "determined to turn the tide".

Multiple dumping sites have been found in Kent, including at Hoads Wood near Ashford and at Basser Hill near Sittingbourne.

The agency is investigating these and other sites in the county.

Scott told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that gangs were "damaging our neighbourhoods, wildlife and heritage, and don't fear the consequences".

Police forces know who waste criminals are "as they have been involved in multiple crime types", he said, while the policing strategy "effectively cleans its hands of fly-tipping" by "dismissing it as the responsibility of others".

The commissioner said police had "a clear role to play" in intelligence and " stopping crimes in action".

Scott said he was not aiming his criticisms at local policing, which was "doing some productive work", but at the wider, national problem.

"Ministers must step up and provide the capacity, capability and resources to fight back against organised waste crime and all agencies must play their part," he said.

The government was contacted for comment.

Conservative county councillor Sarah Hudson said she had been writing to the environment secretary since her party was in government "expressing frustrations that the various agencies were not working in a joined-up way".

"We have to put a stop to the situation where individual entities do things without consulting the others," she said.

"This is complicated by the fact that some of these organised crime groups can be violent, which can cause reticence to act."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We share the public's anger on waste crime – beautiful woodland spoiled by people who don't care about that.

"It's just about making money. We will seek to claim any money back from the offenders."

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