A million fly-tips a year should be a national scandal. Instead, it has become a grim ritual as another set of statistics from Defra confirms that the tide is still rising. The latest figures for England show 1.26 million incidents in 2024–25, up again on last year, with household waste, highways and even tipper-lorry loads piling up across the countryside. For rural communities already bearing the cost, the message is clear: this is not an isolated nuisance, but a growing criminal enterprise that enforcement has yet to bring under control.
The latest Defra fly-tipping statistics for England in 2024-25, published today (25 February), show that the situation has deteriorated further still. Local authorities dealt with 1.26 million incidents over the year, a 9% increase on the 1.15 million recorded in 2023-24. This follows last year’s rise and confirms what rural communities have long known: fly-tipping is not being brought under control.
The increase is driven in large part by household waste. In 2024-25, 62% of all fly-tips involved household waste, amounting to 777,000 incidents: a stark 13% rise on the previous year. This underlines a persistent failure to deter rogue operators, who continue to exploit householders while leaving landowners and councils to pick up the bill.
Highways (pavements and roads) once again accounted for the largest share of incidents at 37%, with 463,000 cases – up 9% on 2023-24. The most common size category was a “small van load” (31%), followed by “car boot or less” (27%). Yet the most serious incidents are rising too. In 2024-25, 52,000 incidents were of “tipper lorry load” size or larger – up 11% on the previous year – costing councils £19.3 million to clear. That figure represents a significant burden on already stretched local authority budgets and does not begin to capture the cost to private landowners.
As ever, Defra’s figures relate only to incidents on land managed by local authorities. They exclude most private land and large-scale cases handled by the Environment Agency, which a BBC investigation last month found ranged up to a waste size of 280,000 tonnes. The official statistics tell only part of the story.
On enforcement, there are mixed messages. Local authorities carried out 572,000 enforcement actions, up 8%, with fixed penalty notices increasing by 9% to 69,000. However, the number of court fines – which would be expected in the more serious cases – fell again by 9% to 1,250, with their total value also down 8% to £673,000. The average fine rose marginally to £539, but this is of little consequence if too few cases reach court in the first place.
These figures reinforce the fact that without consistent, visible and effective enforcement, fly-tipping will continue to rise. The statistical release was accompanied by a government press release promising headline-grabbing “new guidance” for local authorities on seizing and crushing waste criminals’ vehicles but similarly, a council would first need an effective investigative function.
Announcements of tougher powers are welcome as far as they go, but what is concerning is that after the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee wrote to the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds MP, towards the end of last year about its recent inquiry on fly-tipping, it branded her response as “complacent” and giving “succour” to organised gangs of waste criminals. Investigations must lead somewhere. Prosecutions must be pursued. Penalties must be meaningful and consistently applied. It is hard to have confidence that the present course will result in the change communities need.
Fly-tipping blights landscapes, harms wildlife, and places unfair costs on farmers, rural businesses and councils. It erodes confidence that the law will be upheld. We will continue to press both local authorities and central government to treat this as the serious criminality it is, and to deliver the robust enforcement rural communities deserve.
The Countryside Alliance’s annual Countryside Clean-up is returning for 2026, running from Friday 20 March to Monday 6 April. We are calling on rural communities to roll up their sleeves, pull on their boots and get out there to clear the litter and waste that blights our countryside. If you want to get involved, please let us know via social media or by emailing hunting@countryside-alliance.org.