Flytippers 'blighting communities with illegal waste' will be forced to clean up own mess in government crackdown

Speaking to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Emma Reynolds vowed to crack down on waste criminals as she announced sweeping new “police-style” powers for the Environment Agency.

She said the watchdog will be able to search premises, make arrests, and force criminals to clean up their own waste under the changes.

It will also be able to issue custodial sentences to crime bosses that “reflect the level of harm” they cause, Ms Reynolds said.

The Government is handing £45 million to regulator over the next three years to aid efforts in catching the criminals responsible.

It has promised to "ramp up" efforts to punish offenders, who could be forced to join "clean up squads" involving 20 hours of unpaid work cleaning streets.

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“We're determined to crack down on this criminality,” Ms Reynolds told Nick.

She added: “It does blight communities and cause real distress to local residents and indeed risks to the environment and fire risks.

“We've got this action plan and we're stepping up our action in this area because it's been a crime that's been growing over recent years.”

Ms Reynolds said fly-tippers face having points put on their licenses while criminals. She said criminals could also be forced to repay the cost of clearing the waste they illegally dumped.

“For the very, very serious and big illegal waste sites, we need to make sure that there are custodial sentences that reflect the level of harm and overall, we want to recover the costs of clearing these sites from the criminals because the polluter must be made to pay.”

It comes as fly tipping cases across England have reached a record high, with 1.2 million incidents reported in 2024-25. And yet, only 0.2 per cent of incidents result in court action.

An 80-year-old farmer told LBC he was "devastated" to find more than 200 tonnes of rubbish dumped illegally on his farm in Hertfordshire last June.

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His neighbour, Will Dickinson, has told LBC that it took a huge emotional toll on him.

"He phoned me quite distressed, and realised that the huge concrete block he had put in the gateway to this field had been moved overnight.

"In the space of a few days, there was an enormous array of material dumped in his field."He just turned 80 - he lost his wife this time last year. His daughter lives on the other side of the world, so it was really quite devastating for him to see this."Outrage grew over the case, and a few weeks ago, an ordinary member of the public set up a crowdfunding campaign to help raise money for the farmer.

31-year-old Archie Fold raised £56,000 in a matter of days, telling LBC that he was horrified to hear about the case.

"This is just so much worse in person than in the pictures", he said.

"I was outraged when I heard about this and wanted to do something to help."It’s staggering to see this in person", he said while looking at the dumped rubbish on the farm."Criminal gangs are acting with impunity."More than 2,000 people donated to the crowdfunder, with one person donating as much as £1000.Will told LBC that people raised money because they are "disgusted" by the laws, which are "unjust" and "unfair".

"I can’t think of any other crime where the victim has to pay", he said.

"It’s not right that as a victim of a crime, he becomes the criminal.

"The fines for fly tipping (which go up to £1000) are also less than it costs to buy a skip, so people take their chances."