For many years, abandoned mattresses, rubbish sacks and rusty white goods have been a common sight by gateways and hedgerows along quiet country lanes.

The responsibility for their removal lies with whoever owns the land on which the offending items have been dumped, and the cost can be considerable. But there are a number of steps landowners can take to help prevent opportunistic fly-tipping and, if it does occur, cover the costs for clearing an area.

• Make sure roadside gateways are either gated, blocked by a large log or have visible wire across them to prevent anyone from parking and dumping waste.
• Check your insurance cover for fly-tipping. Most include some cover but incidents similar to the one pictured above can easily cost over £5,000 to clear up.
• If the worst does happen, be careful of contaminated waste and ensure everything is disposed of properly. Everybody has a responsibility to ensure that waste and any unwanted items are disposed of responsibly and legally. Failing to ensure your waste is dealt with and disposed of correctly is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
• Do not move rubbish from private land to the roadside as you will then be committing an act of fly-tipping, a criminal offence with a maximum £50,000 fine.
• Check with your local Council as many now have schemes to assist the removal of the waste.
• Report the incident to the non-emergency police line as insurers usually need a crime reference.
• If you have persistent problems, look at purchasing a stealth camera to try and catch the culprit red-handed.

Unfortunately, tipping isn't the only thing being done on the fly: fly-grazing, where horses are left to graze on private land without the owner's permission, is also commonplace. At the moment, there is little landowners can do about the problem. However, a Private Members Bill on the fly-grazing of horses recently passed its second reading in Parliament and if successful, the Control of Horses Bill will give more powers to local authorities and landowners to deal with fly-grazing in a timely, humane and cost-effective way.

Further information

For more information and guidance, contact Savills farms and estates services team.

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