Coventry’s opposition leader calling for drones to tackle fly-tipping
Conservative councillor Gary Ridley will raise the proposal at next week’s full council meeting
Coventry’s opposition leader is calling for drones to be used to tackle fly-tipping across the city.
Cllr Gary Ridley and the Conservative group say thousands of incidents are reported each year with £500,000 being allocated by the council since April just to tackle illegal dumping.
Cllr Ridley said: “Fly-tipping blights our streets, parks and public spaces, costing taxpayers thousands of pounds and dragging down neighbourhoods. We welcome tougher enforcement and increased fines, but we must use every tool available to deter offenders and support enforcement teams.
“That’s why we’re calling on the council to create a dedicated drone capacity to locate, monitor and gather evidence on illegal dumping. Other councils have already begun to use drones with promising results and it’s time for Coventry to follow suit. By investing in drones alongside existing enforcement, we can deter would-be offenders, gather evidence more effectively, and protect our city’s environment.”
Maidstone Borough Council is one local authority using the technology and has reported that drones equipped with thermal imaging technology can help identify fly-tipped waste in minutes rather than hours. Officers there say it is particularly effective across rural land allowing crews to clear reported incidents faster and supporting multi-agency enforcement.
Coventry City Council has a programme to enhance street cleaning, deploy additional CCTV cameras, and fund targeted enforcement at known hotspots. However recent national policy changes aim to give councils and partner agencies greater powers to tackle this issue including the use of drones and mobile CCTV to identify vehicles and offenders.
Cllr Ridley will use Question Time at next week’s (January 13) full council meeting to ask the cabinet member for communities and housing, Cllr Abdul Khan, whether he will consider the use of drones to tackle fly-tipping in the city.
Other written questions from councillors will include one requesting data on the numbers housed in temporary housing over the last four years and what proportion of these were British citizens, and another asking what is being done to tackle air pollution across the city.