Fly tipping crackdown to continue despite fewer offences
120 people were penalised last year after being found guilty of fly tipping in Wiltshire
Last updated 17th Jun 2025
The crackdown on fly-tipping in Wiltshire is set to continue despite offence rates appearing to fall.
Figures from Wiltshire Council reveal there have so far been only 14 fixed penalty notices issued for littering offences, after 120 last year.
There were eight successful prosecutions for fly tipping last year, with a further seven made this year.
Another 12 prosecutions are currently pending an outcome.
Cabinet Member for Street Scene, Cllr Martin Smith, told Greatest Hits Radio it appears people are getting the message about littering in Wiltshire not being tolerated.
"It's obviously a horrible blight on our communities and we're going to continue to take action against this," he said, adding: "We've adopted a zero tolerance approach to tackling fly tipping across Wiltshire, and the numbers do reflect an improvement."
The We're Targetting Fly-Tippers campaign launched in 2022, and has seen the Council raise the amount people can be fined for an offence, which appear to be having an impact.
Penalties for offenders include an unlimited fine and/or 12 months in prison if found guilty in Magistrates Court, or five years behind bars if found guilty in Crown Court.
A Fixed Penalty Notice of £1,000 can be issued for those caught fly-tipping small-scale waste.
The council has worked hard in making people aware, not only of the penalties, but of what constitutes an offence.
Cllr Smith said: "If people just leave rubbish by the side of the road that is, that is an offence.
"We encourage residents to report fly tipping, which is part of the battle, and we also educate and inform people about how they can safely and legally dispose of their waste, particularly highlighting the dangers of using people that might be advertising on social media to quickly take their stuff away and then for it to end up in a ditch somewhere."
He added that we have a duty of care to ensure that anyone collecting our waste has the correct waste carriers licence and to get a receipt so we know it's being done properly.
While the campaign is having success, Cllr Smith said he see's opportunity to tackle further specific issues.
He said: "There's some very good elements to this campaign as it stands and we want to continue to doing those, but I think there are some areas where we can perhaps do a little bit more.
"For instance, we want to work more with the Minister of Defence, particularly as around what's going on Salisbury Plain, I think that's still a problem area for us."
We're encouraged to report fly tipping through the MyWilts app, with financial rewards on offer to people if their report leads to a person being held to account for an offence.