A recent fly-tipping case [Milton Keynes Council v Fuller & McVeigh (2011) 1967 (Admin)] ended up in the High Court after a farmer stood accused of illegally depositing waste that had originally been fly-tipped at the entrance to his field. The farmer was initially successful in defending the prosecution in the Magistrates’ Court, but the Local Authority appealed the decision of the Magistrates to the High Court by way of case stated. The High Court ruled that the Magistrates’ decision was lawful and dismissed the Local Authority’s appeal and awarded the farmer his costs.
At Christie Drive, Brickfield Meadow in Croydon an area renowned for littering and fly tipping, around 100 volunteers took part in a clean up and collected a ton and a half of litter in just an hour. Litter pickers there (see picture above) were joined by Keep Britain Tidy's celebrity ambassador and TV personality Kirstie Allsopp and Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman.
Magistrates’ Court Decision Milton Keynes Council alleged that the farmer had illegally deposited controlled waste or had knowingly committed controlled waste to be deposited when there was no Environmental Permit in force authorising the deposit contrary to section 33(1)(a) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. It was alleged that corrugated asbestos sheeting, tyres and fencing panels which had been fly-tipped in the farmer’s field had been subsequently deposited at the entrance of the field that was publically owned land and for which the Council would be responsible for the clean-up costs. The farmer initially contacted the Council to report that waste had been deposited at the entrance to his field and requested that it be removed. The farmer maintained that it was his experience that removal of waste by the Council could take a long time and he had therefore instructed one of his employees to move as much waste as necessary in order to clear space to gain access to the field to spray the crops. The farmer’s employee confirmed in his evidence that he only moved what was necessary as he suspected the waste may have contained some asbestos. The employee confirmed that no waste was picked up from inside the field and moved outside. Expert evidence distinguished an historic deposit of waste in the field which the Council alleged was the same as that found at the entrance to the field. The Magistrates’ court found that the waste had been moved to clear access to the property and that moving the waste did not amount to a deposit for the purposes of s.33(1)(a). They found that the waste had already been illegally deposited on the verge by an unknown third party fly-tipper.
High Court Appeal The Council appealed against the Magistrates’ decision by way of case stated. The question stated for the opinion of the High Court was, “whether the movement of controlled waste by the respondents that was blocking the entrance to a field (in order to clear a route to gain access to their own property) to the public verge, amounted to a “deposit” for the purposes of section 33(1)(a) of the EPA 1990.” The Council argued that “deposit” should be given a broad, common-sense meaning and that by moving the waste, the Defendants had exercised control over it. The Defendant emphasised that no deposit had taken place by the farmer as the waste had already been deposited by the person who illegally fly-tipped it and the movement of some of the waste from the centre of the access road to the side could not be regarded as a “deposit”. The High Court dismissed the appeal and held that the Magistrates were entitled to conclude that the movement of the controlled waste by the Defendants that was blocking the entrance to a field was not a deposit for the purposes of section 33(1)(a) of the Act.