Fines for fly-tipping in Richmond borough will rise to £1,000, despite concerns for residents who might not be able to afford the sum. Richmond Council's environment committee approved the plans on 16 January.

The changes mean the maximum penalty for fly-tipping in Richmond will increase from £400 to £1,000 – reduced to £500 if paid in 10 days. Fly-tipping is the illegal deposit of any waste on land that does not have a licence to accept it.

Lib Dem councillor Fiona Sacks said she supported enforcement but raised concerns about what would happen if a 'resident can't afford the £1,000 or the £500' at the meeting. She said: "There are pockets of real poverty in my ward and in many others where that does slightly concern me because there will be people who really have not got £500 to pay immediately."

Sharon Wright, head of inspection and enforcement, said the council would have to consider how to proceed in such cases as the fine can't be discounted any further and it does not accept instalment payment plans.

Lib Dem councillor Julia Neden-Watts added the council 'takes fly-tipping seriously' and it costs the authority and taxpayers a 'huge amount of money to clear fly-tips'.

The authority can hand out formal warnings and fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and littering. A council report said it carried out 1,620 of these enforcement actions in response to the offences in 2022/23, compared to 1,336 in 2020/21.

The government increased the maximum amount those caught fly-tipping could be fined from £400 to £1,000 in July last year. It also raised the maximum penalty for littering from £150 to £500.

The maximum penalty for littering in Richmond will remain at £150, however, council officers recommended it stay the same to avoid facing a greater number of unpaid fines. The fine is slashed to £100 if paid in 10 days.

The report said fly-tipping is 'suited to a much higher penalty' as it can be seen as a "more deliberate act". It said this would act as an "increased deterrent to prospective fly-tippers and any activities that can reduce the incidences of littering and fly-tipping within the borough would likely have the consequential effect of reducing costs to the council".

At the meeting, Ms Wright said: "Littering and fly-tipping is antisocial and illegal and we need to use all the tools at our disposal to tackle this, including nice measures like organising and taking part in the mega skip days that we're doing at the moment.

"We issue advisory letters, warning letters, ultimately we issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) when we catch offenders. There is no legal right of appeal against FPNs, however we do have an informal review process in-house and we will look at any FPN that's brought to our attention to make sure it has been issued fairly, correctly and consistently."