City sees more than 16 fly-tipping incidents a day

More than 16 incidents of fly-tipping a day have been reported in Stoke-on-Trent in the past year, new figures show.

Official government data reveals that there were 5,893 incidents of illegal dumping reported to the city council in 2024/25.

This was around 500 more than the previous year, and the highest annual total since 2016/17.

While the majority of incidents involved small van-loads, there was an increase in major fly-tipping offences, which have been a growing concern nationally.

There were 181 incidents involving "significant or multi loads", up from 168 in the previous year, and 370 involving tipper lorry loads, up from 173.

But the figures also show that the city council took a record 5,136 actions against fly-tippers in 2024/25, issuing more than 2,000 fines.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council announced its Illegal Dumping in our Towns (IDIOT) campaign in June 2023, pledging to clean up 1,000 grot spots and boost enforcement.

Cabinet member Amjid Wazir said he believed the increasing reports of fly-tipping show that the council's approach is working.

"The reason why the number of reports is going up is because people believe that something will be done about it.

"People stopped reporting incidents before because nothing was being done. Now they know that the council will take action, we'll clean it up and go after the fly-tippers," he said.

Most of the offences took place in back alleyways, with 3,129 incidents recorded in 3,139.

There were 1,038 incidents on council-owned land, with 210 at private homes.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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