Lord Marlesford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2015-10-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish the scoping study on littering from vehicles legislation, and why such legislation was not implemented nationally in April.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

We expect to publish the study later this month.

Before any regulations to tackle littering from vehicles are implemented, it will be important to get the details right. This will include matters such as the size of the fine, the form and content of the penalty notice, and exceptions to the keeper’s liability (for example if the vehicle has been stolen). We will therefore want to seek Local Authorities’ and others’ views before legislating. Any such regulations must be approved by both Houses of Parliament before coming into effect.

Legislation to enable the seizure of vehicles involved in fly-tipping came into force in April 2015. As set out in our manifesto, we will be giving councils the power to tackle small scale fly-tipping through Penalty Notices, as an alternative to prosecutions, in spring 2016, and we will review the case for increasing fixed penalties for littering.