Richmond recorded 5,611 fly-tips in 2024/25, its highest on record, but issued 11 fly-tipping fines and brought no prosecutions. The council now says it is stepping up.
Richmond Council recorded 5,611 fly-tipping incidents in 2024/25. That is the most in any year since the government’s series began in 2012/13. In the same year the council issued 11 fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and brought no prosecutions.
The figures are the council’s own returns to Defra, published in the ENV24 fly-tipping statistics. The year runs from April 2024 to March 2025.
On Friday the council said it was stepping up enforcement. It said officers can issue on-the-spot fines of £1,000 for small fly-tips. Larger cases can bring fines of up to £50,000 or a prison sentence.
The numbers
Incidents have more than doubled in three years, from 2,569 in 2021/22.
| Year | Incidents | Fly-tipping fines | Prosecutions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 2,569 | 6 | 0 |
| 2022/23 | 3,675 | 7 | 0 |
| 2023/24 | 4,441 | 28 | 0 |
| 2024/25 | 5,611 | 11 | 0 |
The council opened 1,890 investigations in 2024/25, up from 1,425 the year before. It sent three warning letters and seized no vehicles. Across all offence types linked to fly-tipping it issued 53 fixed penalty notices.
The council’s returns show no prosecution for fly-tipping in any year since 2012/13, when it brought 13.
What is being dumped
The council’s release talks about “entire van loads” left beside recycling bins. Most of what it records is much smaller. Of the 5,611 incidents in 2024/25:
- 4,357 were a single black bag
- 681 were a single item, such as a mattress or a chair
- 513 were a car boot load or less
- 54 were a small van load
- 6 were a transit van load
Household black bags made up 3,989 incidents. Almost all of them, 5,390, were on the highway, which includes pavements and the space beside street bins.
The council counts rubbish bags left next to bins, and clothes or toys left outside charity shops, as fly-tipping. A council that logs every stray bag will record far more incidents than one that only logs large dumps. Defra itself warns that councils differ in how thoroughly they record them, so the rise may partly reflect closer counting.
How Richmond compares
Richmond is not one of London’s worst boroughs for fly-tipping. Its 2024/25 rate was 28.5 incidents per 1,000 people, against 52.9 for London as a whole. Eleven of London’s 33 authorities had a lower rate. Kingston had the lowest, at 13.8.
Its use of fines is near the bottom of the table. Only Hounslow (2), Croydon (3) and Bromley (8) issued fewer fly-tipping fines. Kingston also issued 11. Wandsworth, which shares its council workforce with Richmond, issued 401 from 5,580 incidents, almost the same number of fly-tips.
What it means for you
You can report fly-tipping on the council’s fly-tipping page or in the My Richmond app. The council says any information is treated in confidence.
Bulky items can go to the Townmead Road recycling centre, and our bin collection days page covers what goes in which bin.
Leaving a bag beside a full street bin counts as fly-tipping in the council’s own definition, as does leaving donations outside a closed charity shop. Councillor Julia Neden-Watts, who chairs the council’s environment committee, said there is “no excuse for it”.
Defra’s figures for 2025/26 are due early next year. They will show whether the enforcement the council has promised has moved the number of fines.
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