A CAMPAIGN aimed at combating illegal waste dumping has been renewed by a regional organisation.

Suffolk’s County Land and Business Association (CLA) has launched a three-point plan to help combat the region’s blight of fly-tipping.

The association is calling for the Government to ensure that local authorities accept fly-tipped waste at local tips easily and without charge to landowners and stop prosecution of landowners who have waste materials dumped on their land.

The CLA is also calling for the creation of the right policy framework for local authorities to work with police forces and other bodies on a zero-tolerance approach.

CLA president William Worsley: “Currently the system does not work and is grossly unfair to landowners and farmers who have to bear the cost of disposal if the local authority is not inclined to do so.

“Indeed at the moment, many people are afraid of reporting fly-tipping incidents for fear of being fined or incurring heavy costs when they have done nothing wrong.

“Defra and the Environment Agency urgently need to review the ways in which landowners are able to recycle materials dumped on their property.

“Government is also not acting quickly enough. We are still waiting for a decision whether to introduce improvements to regulations to control the stop, search and seizure of vehicles as part of the waste controls enforcement regime, measures which could reduce the number of victims.”

Last year, North Essex MP Bernard Jenkin worked alongside the CLA to call for an amendment to the Environmental Protection Act (1990) to increase the powers of local authorities to investigate and remove illegally-dumped waste.