Fly-tippers should be 'garrotted with their own intestines', says Sir Desmond

PEOPLE who commit fly-tipping could be punished by being garrotted with their own intestines, a New Forest MP has suggested.

Conservative Sir Desmond Swayne showed his frustration as he jokingly floated the idea in parliament during a debate about waste crime.

The MP for New Forest West told environment secretary Theresa Villiers: “The New Forest is being desecrated by people fly-tipping.

“Will my right honourable friend have a word with her colleagues in the Ministry of Justice to ensure that we are more robust with respect to punishments – perhaps garrotting perpetrators with their own intestines?”

His comments were followed this week by a huge pile of waste dumped next to Ringwood Road in Bransgore, near St Mary the Virgin Church.

As reported in the A&T, last year New Forest District Council adopted powers to issue civil penalty notices of between £65 and £150 to the owners of vehicles from which waste is thrown.

Between April 2018 and August this year only one was issued, however.

Hampshire County Council has recently come under fire for imposing charges for disposing of some DIY waste at its recycling centres, including Efford at Lymington, Somerley near Ringwood, and Marchwood.

Liberal Democrats said the Conservative-controlled council's policy would encourage fly-tipping.

But it said the levy was needed to help keep open the county's network of centres as it seeks to reduce spending by £80m by April next year, amid government funding cuts.

Responding to Sir Desmond’s suggested punishment, environment secretary Mrs Villiers said she hoped courts would view fly-tipping “seriously” but added: “I am not sure that I could go quite that far.”

She said waste crime “blights” local communities and the environment, and since 2014 the government had given the Environment Agency £60m extra to tackle the problem.