Fly-tippers face driving licence points under anti-social behaviour crackdown

The Conservatives are today (31 May) announcing a clear plan to stamp out anti-social behaviour across the board to restore pride in place, improve people's quality of life and boost community cohesion.

Fly tipping can ruin a neighbourhood and blight our beautiful countryside. The Conservatives will treat it with the seriousness it deserves by making fly tipping an offence that carries penalty points against your driving licence. The worst offenders will still face the prospect of losing their licence entirely and prison time. The maximum fixed penalty notice offenders caught fly-tipping could get has already increased to £1,000 and most egregious offenders face an unlimited fine.   

Under the Conservatives, there will be no tolerance for anti-social behaviour in any form it takes. Fly tippers, anti-social tenants and those that spoil the fabric of our high streets will be taken on by this bold action. 

In March last year, we announced we would clamp down on anti-social tenants – and now we will go further by passing a law to kick repeat offenders out of social housing. After three proven instances of anti-social behaviour, local authorities and housing associations will be expected to evict tenants. Three strikes and you're out. This kind of behaviour can wreak havoc on your life and is linked other crimes, like domestic violence and drug dealing. It will stop. 

The new measures build on the Prime Minister's bold anti-social behaviour plan, where he slapped £1,000 fines on fly-tippers, banned nitrous oxide and forced offenders to clean up their own graffiti.  

The plan also delivered a new hot spot policing programme, piloted in 10 areas, which led to nearly 800 arrests, close to 2,000 stop and searches and almost 1,000 uses of anti-social behaviour powers such as community protection notices and public protection orders. This plan is working, with anti-social behaviour down by nearly 50 percent in some hotspot areas. 

The successful hotspot policing programme will be rolled out in England and Wales too across the next Parliament. This will ensure that millions more hours of patrolling can be targeted in the worst affected areas. Where this is already in place, there has been a huge increase in enforcement, and up to 50 percent decrease in anti-social behaviour. 

To clamp down further on rogue cowboy waste disposers, which account for a significant amount of waste dumped, we want to ensure waste disposal advertisements are licensed to stop fly tippers and those who assist them advertising their services. 

Pride of place matters. As well as cracking down on those who litter, spit gum on the floor and deface public spaces, public and private investment will spread investment around the nation. Already, the Conservatives have invested £15 billion into levelling up, and freeports have attracted new businesses, generated billions in private investment and created thousands of jobs. 

The Conservatives will also invest even more funding into saving cherished community assets. In the last four years, through the Community Ownership Fund, Conservatives have saved more than 300 pubs, sports centres and cultural venues. There will be more funding for locals to, for example, purchase or lease an asset and pay for refurbishment costs. Assets could include green spaces, libraries, cultural spaces, leisure facilities, pubs and community centres and more. 

Under the Conservatives, streets and town centres across the country will have a new lease of life. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: 

“Everyone has the right to feel safe in their neighbourhood and a sense of pride in the place they call home. 

“The Conservatives are the only ones with a clear plan to ensure safety, security and prosperity in your local community and your high street. 

“We will take the bold action needed to crack down on fly-tipping, evict nuisance tenants and stop anti-social behaviour in its tracks so we can build a secure future for everyone across the whole country.” 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors 

• The Conservatives have invested over £15 billion from levelling-up funds to overlooked areas across the UK since 2019. This includes the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund supporting projects in 271 places, £2.4 billion committed across 101 Town Deals, £1.5 billion invested into 75 of our great towns through our long-term plan for towns, £830 million Future High Streets Fund, £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund. £3 billion in levelling up funding has gone to Scotland, over £2.5 billion to Wales and over £800 million to Northern Ireland. This money is helping to revive lagging high streets and town centres up and down the country.  
• The Home Office and DLUHC published the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan in March 2023. 
• DLUHC published a consultation on reforms to social housing allocation in January 2024. This consulted on the implementation of a ‘three strikes and you're out' policy for anti-social behaviour and possible exemptions. 
• £103 million from the Community Ownership Fund has so far rescued 333 projectsour ongoing mission to level up towns, villages and cities across the UK.    
• Sixty per cent of the English population now live in a place covered by a devolution deal, including 90 per cent of the North. 
• Keir Starmer has continually criticised the Government for supporting the towns Labour ignored when in government. 
• The Conservative created 12 Freeports to unlock much needed investment into port communities and their hinterlands, to bring jobs and opportunity to some of the UK's historically overlooked communities. All English freeports are open for businesses and creating jobs – in just a few years, Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs. 
• A DLUHC evaluation of the ASB hotspot policing programme found the pilots led to an increase in enforcement activity including nearly 800 arrests, close to 2,000 stop and searches and nearly 1,000 uses of anti-social behaviour tools and powers. 

Some areas have seen incidents of anti-social behaviour almost halve. 

• Case study 1: Lancashire Constabulary: Using trial funding Lancashire Police have delivered visible policing hours across the county to deal with anti-social behaviour. After six months of hotspot policing in Brunswick, Blackpool, reported anti-social behaviour has decreased by 42% compared to the same period last year and public confidence in the police tackling anti-social behaviour in the area has increased by 7.9%. Work in Brunswick has included the creation of a monthly PACT (Police and Communities Together) meeting in Brunswick to allow residents and community members and local councillors to positively engage with local officers and relay any concerns that they have.  
• Case study 2: Southend: Anti-social behaviour in Southend overall is down by 50% with 1,768 fewer offences reported in the year to the end of January 2024 compared to the previous 12 months. Hotspot patrols in two areas in the city have played a leading role in this, as well policing activity across the city.  Hotspot patrols were carried out in Southchurch Road zone where there had been issues with anti-social behaviour from youths in the park, and reports of homeless people congregating, as well as sex workers and drug-related activity in the stairwells. Whilst in the area surrounding Maple Square, a residential area, there had been issues related to drug dealing and nuisance behaviour. The hotspot patrols in both areas have helped to tackle anti-social behaviour and results so far have been very positive. (Home Office Press Release, 15 February 2024, link).