UK town becomes fly-tipping horror show as locals complain they 'can't sell our homes'

Newport has become the worst area in Wales for fly-tipping in recent years, according to figures from the Welsh Government.

The city recorded the highest number of illegal waste-dumping incidents across Wales in both 2023 and 2024, with 8,139 cases - 37 per cent more than Cardiff.

While the number dropped slightly to 7,318 in 2024 and 2025, it still marks a 17 per cent rise compared to 2022. Since 2019, fly-tipping in Newport has surged by 63 per cent - figures that residents say they are "not surprised at all" to see.

It comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer voiced his support for theGreat British Spring Clean in an article for the Mirror in April, praising the campaign for "helping to take back our streets from the disgraceful selfishness of fly-tippers".

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Data obtained through a freedom of information request reveals that in 2024, Newport City Council issued just 124 fines, despite investigating around 7,300 reports.

Over the same period, only 10 fly-tipping incidents led to successful prosecutions in Newport, according to the findings reported by WalesOnline.

Newport Council said they issued 313 fines from April 2024 to March 2025 - up from just 22 fines the previous year. It added they had prosecuted 10 cases, saying this was up from four the previous year. The council said there had been a 23.6 per cent increase in enforcement actions over the same period which could have had a bearing on the stark rise in cases.

In the village of Peterstone, landscape gardener Rhys Warrilow said he was not surprised by the figures - and in fact, thought they might be higher.

“It’s a massive issue here,” he said. “I am not surprised at all by those statistics. At Green Lane, which runs across the back of the houses here, it’s constant and you have to avoid the lane a lot of the time because stuff has been dumped.”

“The amount of tyres you see is phenomenal,” Rhys said. “Often you have to turn around and find alternative routes. It’s quite incredible. A lot of it is building work and rubble which has been emptied off the back of a lorry but you’ll also get fridges, sofas, and general household waste.”

Asked about the rise in fly-tipping, Rhys said he believes it’s down to less frequent and stricter rules around council tips since the Covid pandemic. In Newport, black bins are collected by the council once every three weeks and tips are only open to the public via a booking system.

Rhys said: “Black bin collections are less frequent and tips are operating booking schemes. Where we are, sort of in between Newport and Cardiff, you’ll get people coming from Cardiff dumping stuff because it’s more difficult to trace. You’ll also have people in the local area using waste collectors instead of doing it themselves but that waste collector might often be just dumping it."

He added: “It really p***** me off because as a landscape gardener I could just dump stuff but I don’t - I pay to sort the waste properly. It is harder to dispose of waste now though without a doubt. Because of the collections being once every three weeks now I’m sometimes having to ask relatives if they can take a black bin or two off me because if my bin doesn’t close the bin men won’t take it.”

Newport Council said it switched to household and garden waste pickups every three weeks in order to meet recycling targets. It said: “We spend more than £2.2m to dispose of non-recyclable waste every year. New data shows that almost 40% of it could have been recycled at home. The Welsh Government has set targets for Welsh councils to recycle 70% of household waste. Recycling rates in Newport have improved significantly over the last 15 years, up from 20% to 67%. However, we must increase our recycling rate to avoid a heavy fine."

The council added: “Based on our current recycling performance, we could be fined more than £500,000 for every year we fail to meet this target. If you sort your waste and recycle all you can using our separate recycling collections every week you’ll have less leftover rubbish to put in your bin for non-recyclable waste.”

Peterstone has many council signs warning people against fly-tipping. The council also recently installed poles for security cameras around the village as a deterrent - but within days, they were cut down in the middle of the night.

Teacher Lee Colvin, a village resident and member of the local community council, said: “You’ve got cameras being put up and then hours later being cut down. The stumps are still there. It’s actually affecting people’s ability to sell their homes around here. It’s that bad. One of the worst incidents I saw in Peterstone was outside our house when a white van literally pulled up with a big tank with hazchem [hazardous chemicals] marks all over it and he just turned the tap on and it all started spewing out."

He added: "I’m a science teacher and knew what was coming out of that tank was not good. The guy said it was water. It definitely wasn’t. They ripped the number plates off and fled after I challenged them. That’s how blatant it can be. But it’s not usually that blatant - often it happens at night."

Resident Leon Tarr said: “We believe only one person has ever been prosecuted for fly-tipping on Green Lane. Since the pub closed fewer people are in the area, the camera that’s here doesn't operate, and it’s an easy place to do it. All the reens, if you take a look through them, you’ll see stuff in all of them.”

The village pub, the Six Bells, has been closed for years as the community works to secure funds to reopen it. With no shops and no post office, the village has very few amenities.

Bernie Cook, said to be the village's longest resident, said: “At Christmas time in particular you’ll find massive pieces of furniture – I presume from where people have had new stuff for Christmas and can’t be bothered to dispose of what they don’t want properly. I’ve seen it get far worse of late. When my children were small there was nothing like this. Certainly no refuse dumping from building contractors. It’s dreadful. Often it’s filthy because there’s all sorts in there.”

Newport Council said between April and June this year its waste enforcement and engagement team handed out 50 fines to people for fly-tipping and other waste-related offences worth £14,700 – up from 35 fines handed out in the same period last year for fly-tipping offences.

“We are continuing to see a reduction in the total number of fly-tipping incidents,” it said. “The total number from April to June is around 10.4% lower than it was in 2024. This continues the trend we saw during the period April 2024-March 2025 where the total number of incidents had reduced by more than 10% when compared with the previous 12 months."

The council added that, alongside issuing fines, it is increasing other enforcement measures.

It said: "The number of warning letters issued for household waste offences during this period was 195 and the number of statutory notices given to people for household waste offences was 123. Both of those stats are up on the same period in 2024 (24 warning letters and 36 statutory notices respectively). These are first steps on the enforcement process with regards to household waste. Officers will look to work with people on presenting their waste correctly with fines being issued as a last resort to repeat offenders. The team has also passed 10 serious environmental crime cases to the council’s legal team for further action.”

Councillor Yvonne Forsey, who is cabinet member for climate change, waste, and recycling, added: “These stats show that we are continuing to take decisive action against the scourge of flytipping. We have invested more and more resources into this area and the increase in fines and warnings issued to offenders is evidence that we are having an impact. The fact that the total number of incidents is down compared with April-June last year is also pleasing. We will keep taking a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping to make sure these trends continue.”