Fly Tipping England 2021 – Regional Analysis

If you are interested in a regional analysis of fly-tipping in England, welcome! You are in the right place.

This blog covers a detailed regional analysis of fly-tipping in England based on the latest Defra statistics. London recorded the highest fly-tipping rates, more than double the national average of 20. The North-East was not far behind, with the total number of fly-tipping incidents increasing by 27%.

Below we have collated a table showing the regional breakdown of fly tipping rates.

1. Fly-tipping ranked by rate per 1000 people
2. Local authorities with the highest rates of fly tipping
3. Local authorities with the lowest rates of fly tipping

 

 

1. Fly tipping ranked by rate per 1000 people

In 2020-2021 England recorded 1,134,000 instances of fly-tipping. This represents an overall increase year on year of 16% and is equivalent to 20 fly-tips per 1000 people. However, if we look beyond this and hone in on the performance of different regions across the UK, the story is far more complex.

Table A - Fly tipping by region ranked by rate of fly tipping instances per 1000 people 

Region	2020 /21 fly tips	2019 /20 fly tips	change	% of total fly tips	fly tips per 1000 residents
London	384,834	360,080	7%	34%	43
North East	81,867	64,628	27%	7%	31
North West	140,220	115,192	22%	12%	19
East Midlands	90,479	75,081	21%	8%	19
Yorkshire and The Humber	90,055	91,481	-2%	8%	16
West Midlands	90,585	70,830	28%	8%	15
South East	121,283	90,507	34%	11%	13
East	79,726	61,423	30%	7%	13
South West	55,162	50,506	9%	5%	10
England total	1,134,211	979,728	16%		20

Source: Defra / Lovejunk (December 2021)

 

London recorded 43 fly-tips for every 1000 residents. A fly-tipping rate that was more than double the national average of 20. As a result, London was responsible for 34% (1 in 3) of all fly-tipping incidents in England from 2020 to 2021. This is despite Londoners only representing 16% of the total population.  

The North East region was not far behind London, with the second worse rate of fly-tipping per population. Last year it had 31 instances per 1000 people and also saw its total number of incidents increase by 27%, from 64,000 to 82,000. 

The biggest year on year increase came from the South East region, which grew from 91,000 instances to 121,000. An increase of 34%. Although, it still remains well below the national average rate of fly-tips per 1000 residents, at only 13. 

The East and the West Midlands also saw a jump, growing 30% and 28%, respectively.

The most improved region was Yorkshire & Humber region which had a 2% fall in fly-tipping incidents. Great job!

 

2. Local authorities with highest rates of fly tipping  

The table below shows the twenty local authorities with the highest fly-tipping rates. As you can see, this table is dominated by London boroughs, with the City of London authority at the top of the list. This is not so surprising given its proximity to so many people and buildings. Northampton in the East Midlands had the highest rate outside of London.

 

Table B – Top 20 Local authorities with highest rates of tipping per 1000 people 

Local authority	Region	Fly tips 2021	Per 1000 people
City of London	London	2,112	193
Camden	London	36,696	131
Hounslow	London	30,902	114
Brent	London	33,467	102
Hammersmith and Fulham	London	16,828	92
Redbridge	London	26,053	85
Haringey	London	21,950	82
Northampton	East Midlands	17,984	80
Merton	London	15,857	77
Reigate and Banstead	South East	10,530	71
Southwark	London	21,386	67
Redcar and Cleveland	North East	8,686	63
Pendle	North West	5,716	62
Croydon	London	22,719	58
Newham	London	20,765	58
Newcastle upon Tyne	North East	16,150	53
Kensington and Chelsea	London	8,043	51
Liverpool	North West	24,326	49
Hackney	London	13,609	48
Peterborough	East	9,744	48

Source: Defra / Lovejunk (December 2021)