Wiltshire Council wins national award for anti-flytipping campaign

We're Targeting Flytippers (WTF) has been credited with cutting incidents

Author: Faye TryhornPublished 4th Mar 2024

Wiltshire Council has won a national award for its efforts to reduce flytipping across the county.

They've scooped the Environmental Campaign of the Year Award at the Keep Britain Tidy Awards for their hard-hitting We’re Targeting Fly-tippers (WTF) scheme.

That was launched in late 2022 with a £150,000 a year investment for three years - that funding has seen the council employ more officers and invest in more equipment such as covert cameras to both prevent and catch fly-tippers.

Wiltshire Council staff with their award for the WTF flytipping campaign

Cllr Caroline Thomas, Cabinet Member for Transport and Street Scene, said:

“This is a fantastic result for Wiltshire and shows just how hard our teams are working to tackle fly-tipping in the county. I’d like to congratulate our officers for all their hard work in winning this prestigious national award.

“Our We’re Targeting Fly-tippers (WTF) campaign is both hard-hitting and eye-catching – and it has generated significant local and national media coverage. But most importantly it is getting results.

“The number of fly-tips in Wiltshire has been on a downward trend since we launched the campaign. There were 7.4 fly-tipping incidents per 100,000 residents in 2020/21, and that has fallen to 5.1 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2022/23.

“We’ve also seen a huge increase in the number of fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and prosecutions for fly-tipping, with 25 FPNs issued and 11 successful prosecutions from April-September in 2023, compared to 5 FPNs and 2 prosecutions in the same period in 2022.

“But this is just the start – over the coming year, people will see more prosecutions for fly-tipping and a new phase of our WTF campaign, as we fulfil our Business Plan pledge to reduce fly-tipping in Wiltshire.

“Our message is clear – We’re Targeting Fly-tippers here in Wiltshire.”

Wiltshire Council was shortlisted alongside City of Doncaster Council and SWISCo Ltd – a Torbay Council Company.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.