Farmers will finally be freed from paying for their fly-tipped waste after the government was defeated in the House of Lords in what campaigners branded an “absolutely ridiculous” and unjust government.
Under current law, landowners have a legal responsibility to remove waste dumped on their property. If they fail to do so, they could be prosecuted for managing waste on their own land despite being the victim of a crime.
The system derives from the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which imposes responsibilities on landowners. Critics argue that it often allows criminals to escape sanctions while actually punishing victims.
The House of Lords’ intervention comes as new Defra figures reveal fly-tipping incidents in the UK will rise by 9% from 2024 to 2025, reaching 1.26 million incidents.
These figures only cover land managed by local authorities and do not include most privately owned agricultural land. So the actual total is likely much higher.
Of the 1.26 million cases recorded, the city council carried out 572,000 enforcement actions. However, nearly 400,000 of those were investigations, and fewer than 200,000 resulted in some form of sanction, including a warning letter.
In fact, fewer than one in five cases resulted in punishment.
Peers supported two amendments aimed at rebalancing responsibilities.
Amendment 13, submitted by Lord Davies of Gower, seeks guidance from the Secretary of State to make clear that if someone is convicted of fly-tipping under the Environmental Protection Act, the offender should be held liable for the costs caused by the loss or damage.
It also calls for close cooperation between waste authorities and police to ensure landowners do not continue to incur costs.
The 21st Amendment, introduced by Viscount Goshen, goes further. It would impose an obligation on local waste authorities to collect fly-tipped waste and recover costs from violators.
If implemented, the measure would exempt private landowners from cleaning up costs and create a strong incentive for councils to investigate and prosecute fly tippers.
The government opposed the change. However, after the 13th Amendment passed despite ministerial resistance, the 21st Amendment was accepted without a vote.
Campaigners say the changes will abolish the current system, which leaves enforcement spotty and punishes victims.
The Rural Alliance, which has long criticized the framework, welcomed the vote.
“The government has a real opportunity here to end the current ridiculous system of punishing farmers and rural people as victims of waste crime,” said Johnny Firth, the group’s spokesperson.
He added: “Accepting these amendments will go a long way towards repairing the broken relationship between government and local areas, and will demonstrate to local communities that government cares about justice for the people who live and work in rural areas.”
The amendments now need to be passed by the House of Commons, where ministers can seek to overturn or dilute them.
Rural landowners are regularly left with clean-up costs running into the thousands of pounds, but the problem is simple. The polluters, not the victims, should pay.
The next Commons stage will test whether the government is prepared to side with farmers, or defend a system openly challenged by its peers.
