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CLA backs call for new
powers to tackle litter
THE
CLA in the North is backing calls for councils
to be given new powers to tackle the rising problem of roadside rubbish. The
Local Government Association (LGA) is now calling for a legal loophole to be
closed, so that car owners can be fined if rubbish is thrown from their vehicle,
regardless of whether it was them or a passenger throwing it. The CLA, which
represents thousands of farmers, landowners, and rural businesses in the North,
is supporting the move because rubbish dumped on to the side of roads can find
its way into nearby fields used for growing crops or to graze livestock.
CLA North regional Director Dorothy Fairburn said:- "Any type of rubbish,
no matter how big or small, dumped on to the side of roads can easily find its
way into nearby fields used for growing crops or to graze livestock. Rubbish is
ending up in crops, jeopardising farmers’ contracts. A famer in the south east
recently lost a £16,000 contract because fragments of glass from a discarded
bottle were found in a one kilo grain sample. Livestock can also chew and ingest
rubbish found on grazing pastures, leading to the slow, agonising death of the
animals."
Miss Fairburn said that while she welcomed tougher penalties for those caught
dropping litter or throwing it from their car windows, the public needed to
realise the consequences of dropping litter. "It might seem like a
victimless act, but throwing rubbish from a car window or dumping it on a verge
could lead to a major problem for a farmer and the food they grow or the animals
they care for."
Last year the CLA welcomed new guidelines from the Sentencing Council, which
said it wanted magistrates to make more use of the highest levels of fines for
people caught fly tipping. The CLA is also lobbying government to create a new
ticketing scheme that would enable landowners to take fly tipped rubbish to
their local tip free of charge. |
