Norwich Fly-Tipping: The Worst Streets Revealed

The worst streets in Norwich for fly-tipping have been revealed by Norwich City Council.

In 2019, with data up until mid-December, the worst street was Suffolk Square, with Heathgate second.

Suffolk Square was the site of the most fly-tipping incidents for three years straight from 2017 t0 2019 and appears in the list of the five worst streets for five years consecutively.

Lefroy Road also appears five years consecutively, starting in 2015. In 2019, these two streets, along with Heathgate, Bowers Avenue and Springbank, appeared on the list of the worst affected streets.

Norwich City Council distributed just 47 fines for fly-tipping across the city over the last five years.

The list of the worst streets each year is below:

2019 (up to mid-December):

1. Suffolk Square
2. Heathgate
3. Bowers Avenue
4. Lefroy Road
5. Springbank

2018:

1. Suffolk Square
2. Bowers Avenue
3. Lefroy Road
4. Heathgate
5. Springbank

2017:

1. Suffolk Square
2. Lefroy Road
3. Knowland Grove
4. Bowers Avenue
5. Northfields

2016:

1. Lefroy Road
2. Bowers Avenue
3. Knowland Grove
4. Suffolk Square
5. Gentry Place

2015:

1. Enfield Road
2. Lefroy Road
3. Suffolk Square
4. Godric Place
5. Northfields

Data sourced via a Freedom of Information request made by the media literacy charity The Student View found that only six fines were issued for fly-tipping in Norwich in 2019. Just seven fines were issued in 2018, a figure which stood at only 12 per year in both 2017 and 2016. Seven fines were also issued in 2015. 

Norwich City Council states on its website that: “the act of fly-tipping is a criminal offence punishable by Fixed Penalty Notice, unlimited fine and/or imprisonment up to 5 years.”

It adds that “clearing up fly-tipping is an unnecessary cost to Norwich taxpayers”, and that “Householders have a legal obligation to take all reasonable measures to ensure that waste is disposed of properly.”

Martin Schmierer, lord mayor of Norwich, told the Eastern Daily Press that “the particular villains with this issue are those who are telling people they’ll take their rubbish away for £10 or £20, and then just leave it outside a communal bin, which seems to be more of an issue in certain places.”

Kevin Maguire, Norwich City Council’s cabinet member for safe city environment, told the paper that “Most fly-tipping is carried out furtively and is unlikely to be witnessed and there is usually lack of physical evidence of where the waste has come from,” he said.

“Much of fly-tipped rubbish in Norwich could have been disposed of free of charge at Swanton Road recycling centre, or collected by Norwich City Council for a small fee, yet some people still continue with this criminal behaviour.”

You can report fly-tipping in Norwich here.