Police and Crime Commissioners from across the South East are working together in a bid to tackle waste crime across the region.
Lisa Townsends, Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner, joined her colleagues from Kent, Hampshire, Sussex and Thames Valley and a range of partners at a summit hosted in Kent.
Partners in attendance included police and local government representatives, the Environment Agency, rural representative groups, and private sector organisations working in the industry.
Next steps, which were unanimously agreed upon, are to commission a strategic review of the scale of the issue across the South East before developing a partnership action plan to tackle the problem and deliver the changes identified.
Estimates from the National Audit Office suggest waste crime in England costs the economy £900 million annually, and other data shows that up to 20% of UK waste is handled illegally.
Speaking after the summit Lisa said: “Yesterday’s summit marks the first time since I was first elected that all five south-eastern Police and Crime Commissioners have come together as a group to deal with a single issue. That shows how seriously we all take this criminal enterprise.
“The scale is astonishing. In just five years, agencies have dealt with 34million tonnes of waste – enough to fill 30 Wembley Stadiums. Up to a fifth of all waste handled in the UK is done so illegally.
“While many will know of the link between county lines drug dealing and organised criminality, in truth, these groups don’t distinguish. They can earn a fortune from the commodity of waste, and this money fuels further serious offending that does such harm to communities across the country.
“I am delighted that policing, local government, HMRC, the Environment Agency, Heritage England and the National Farmers’ Union are forging strong partnerships to drive out offenders and return the UK’s waste industry to legitimate businesses.”
Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott, who convened the meeting, said: “Large scale waste crime has become the new county lines.
“Organised criminal groups are dumping tonnes of illegal and often hazardous waste all around the region, polluting our countryside and costing taxpayers and individual landowners hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear up.
“What’s more, the money these gang are making from this illegal dumping often fuels other serious offending.
“It’s not an easy problem to resolve, as there are so many agencies involved, but we have agreed to work together to improve data gathering and sharing, reporting, response times and develop strategies to tackle this growing problem.
“No agency can do this alone, so I’m delighted my colleagues and partners have agreed to pursue this programme together.”
