AN Essex area is set to increase fines for fly tipping after it was named the worst area for the offence.

Epping Forest Council is set to increase fixed penalty notices to £1,000 from April while the government’s plans to increase power to allow driving licences to be taken away in a bid to tackle the number of illegal flytipping cases reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

Epping saw 3,542 cases in 24/25 – up 15 per cent from the year before. Epping saw the highest number of flytipping cases in Essex- about 40 per cent more tch an Harlow in second place with 2,546. Brentwood was in third place with 1,249 incidents.

Nationally the number of flytipping cases has increased by nine per cent. The increase has helped spark a potential new intervention from the Government in which fly-tippers could face the prospect of points on their licence. The Government is also urging councils to seize and crush vehicles of flytippers in new action to tackle the problem.

The maximum fines which can be imposed against fly-tippers are set to be increased in April to a maximum of £1,000. However the council has admitted it needs to act differently to clamp down on flytipping.

Brian Ellick, community manager for community resilience at Epping District Council said: “We need to be more strategic over how we approach flytippjng . A lot of the time we are very traditional. The waste is dumped. We go there, we examine it to see what evidence there is. We might put a camera in. But we need to take a step back, look at the data, look at what’s happening there.

“For example some of the flytipping might not be the traditional flytippng, there might be side waste where there is rubbish next to the bin. Its still flytipping in terms of reporting just not flytipping just not in the traditional sense.

“Its about stepping back, looking at the data and formulating specific plans to look at what’s happening and to see what needs addressing.”