A council has prosecuted 22 people for fly-tipping and other waste offences in the first three months of this year.

Burnley Council's community and environmental services boss, Councillor Howard Baker, tells colleagues of the court actions in a report.

It also reveals that recorded crime and anti-social behaviour in the borough have fallen year-on-year.

Cllr Baker's report says that between January 1 and March 20: 

  • 22 individuals were prosecuted for waste offences;
  • 12 individuals have been scheduled to attend a formal interview at the Town Hall for continually presenting excess waste;
  • 75 individuals have been referred to the Magistrates' Court for prosecution;
  • 15 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for fly-tipping offences have been issued
  • 188 FPNs for littering and side waste offences have been served; and
  • eight FPNs for dog foul/dog exclusion have been issued.

Cllr Baker's report says: "Partnership working with the council’s waste and cleansing contractor has contributed to the success of side waste fixed penalty notices.

"In the first week of the introduction of this improved way of working, 22 FPNs were issued over a four-day period.

"This is really positive and assists in reducing incorrectly presented waste.

"Increased early morning and evening dog foul patrols have been introduced during British Summer Time (BST) starting from March 31.

"Police data shows that all recorded crime in Burnley, for the 12 months March 2023 to February 2024, fell by 4.17 per cent. The same period saw all recorded crime in Lancashire fall by 2.45 per cent.

"It is a similar story with anti-social behaviour (ASB) where we have seen a reduction of 12.4 per cent in reports to the police during the last 12 months.

"For comparison, the Lancashire average over this period is minus 7.5 per cent, so this is a re-assuring statistic.

"Youth-related ASB is often raised as a concern by our residents and during the first two months of 2024, 21.5 per cent of all reported ASB was youth-related.

"Youth-related ASB in February 2024 marked a 47 per cent reduction from February 2023.

"Again, this is a positive trend.

"In February the Council received 57 ASB reports from Burnley and Padiham meaning that, as of March 1, officers were working with 108 active cases.

"The Operation Centurion pilot, providing increased police patrols to ASB hotspots, has been running in Padiham since July.

"During this time there have been 240 extra police shifts within the focus area; police have conducted 520 stop checks and 34 stop searches; 122 incidents were attended; and 18 youth referrals issued."