MP calls for more action on illegal waste sites

An MP has called for greater enforcement of illegal waste dumping after mountains of rubbish appeared near homes in his Worcestershire constituency.

A photo of one of the scenes in Evesham appears to show masses of rubbish dumped in a large trench, and there have also been complaints about waste on a farm in the village of Peopleton.

Nigel Huddleston, the MP for Droitwich and Evesham, said the country as a whole had seen "a real spike in these illegal dumping sites".

In a statement, the government said it was "making those responsible pay" and "working across government to wipe out illegal waste across the country".

Huddleston said the Environment Agency needed more money to tackle illegal sites adding: "I think one of the issues is, when it comes to illegal dumping, it's the enforcement, it's the compliance, where the issues seem to be.

"Then the questions arise over which agency is responsible."

Huddleston said: "Sometimes there's just too many people in the mix here and I think that gives agency to some of the perpetrators to think that they can get away with it."

The underlying problem, he told The World Tonight, was that "there's a lot of money to be made in this kind of waste disposal area," so the perpetrators were not discouraged by the potential penalties.

Huddleston said further legislation was needed, but it was also important that the laws were "implemented in the way that they were intended".

That would require more funding for the Environment Agency, he argued, because it already had a lot on its plate, with issues including flooding and planning.

The government said large-scale illegal waste sites were a "blight on our communities" and it welcomed the action taken by the Environment Agency.

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