Over 2,500 flytipping fines were issued in Brighton from April 2021 to March 2022 – while three other Sussex councils issued none.

Brighton and Hove City Council were among the most prolific issuers of fines for the littering offence in the UK, issuing more than 1.5 per incident reported to them.

This compared drastically to Chichester, Arun and Mid Sussex Councils who all gave out no penalties, while Rother District Council only handed out one fine.

Chichester Council disputed the government statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, saying that three fines were issued.

In total, 2,609 flytipping Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) were issued in the time period with 1,585 incidents reported in that time frame.

Speaking on the “terrible and anti-social environmental crime”, Brighton and Hove City Councillor Tim Rowkins said: “Our reported figures on the FPNs we’ve issued show the work we put into tackling flytipping.

“However, the real measure is the decrease in offences and we’ve seen that through our enforcement activities - particularly the CCTV cameras – that these are a significant deterrent.”

MOST READ:

“All the funds raised through the FPNs are ring-fenced to tackle environmental offences and support our efforts in keeping the city clean.”

In the same reporting period, 928 instances of flytipping were reported to Rother council, with the council issuing 0.0011 fines per incident reported.

A spokeswoman for Rother council said that increased enforcement had taken place since March 2022, with 115 FPNs issued from April 2022 to March 2023.

The council added: “We know that residents and businesses do not want their communities blighted by flytipping or litter and the council is determined to address this illegal and anti-social behaviour.

“We continue to encourage people to dispose of their waste responsibly or face on-the-spot fixed penalty notices.”

1,713 instance of flytipping were reported to Arun District Council while 1,372 were reported in Chichester and 684 were reported in Mid Sussex.

A spokeswoman for Mid Sussex District Council said: “Flytipping is a frustration to everyone and it is something that we are working hard to reduce across the Mid Sussex district through education, recycling options and the fast removal of flytipping when it does occur.

“Issuing Fixed Penalty Notices it is particularly challenging, especially in rural areas and - with the evidence required to achieve a successful outcome significant - we are rarely in a position to do so.

“We work hard to remove flytipping swiftly and the majority of non-hazardous flytips are removed within 24 hours of a report.”

A spokeswoman for Chichester District Council disputed DEFRA’s statistics but added that difficulty finding enough evidence made it difficult to secure fines.

Chichester Council added: “Flytipping is an offence that we take very seriously. Not only does it ruin the landscape of our beautiful district, but it also poses an environmental risk and costs more than £350,000 of taxpayers’ money to clear up every year.”

A spokeswoman for Arun District Council said: "Fixed penalty notices for fly tipping were not issued during the period April 2021 to March 2022, due to the lack of evidence found at any particular scene, or where reports from internal or external sources had not been accompanied by a witness statement and/or photographic evidence."

The council also added that while no fines were issued for flytipping, 480 FPNs were issued for littering in the time period.