§ Harry CohenTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will impose, as an additional requirement upon the City of London Corporation, as part of the local government grant allocation settlement, provision for the effective removal from forest and other open space land, for which it is responsible, rubbish which has been fly-tipped, obsolete tyres and refrigerators and abandoned cars, from its own resources; and if he will make a statement. [94518]
§ Mr. RaynsfordUnder section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the local authority (or the Environment Agency) has the power to remove fly-tipped waste from private land and to recover the costs of doing so from the perpetrators, where they can be traced. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for the policy on fly-tipping. There are no plans to require local authorities to remove fly-tipped waste as such a requirement would provide an incentive for unscrupulous operators to fly-tip waste in the knowledge that it would be removed at no cost to them. Local authorities are already required to remove abandoned vehicles. It would therefore not be appropriate to impose additional requirements on the City.