South Gloucestershire Council’s envirocrime team have won the Association for Public Service Excellence’s (APSE) Environmental Services Innovation Award for 2018 in recognition of their achievements, particularly with regards to tackling fly-tipping in the area.
Our envirocrime team, which seeks to improve the streets of South Gloucestershire by dealing with issues including fly-tipping, litter, dog-fouling and graffiti, were named as winner of the prestigious national APSE award for innovation in environmental services.
Officers were recognised for ‘creating a virtual envirocrime team’ which involved partnership working and maximising the use of available legislation, which has enabled a wide variety of cases to be resolved. The innovative solution adopted combined environmental health, waste management and StreetCare areas and expertise to solve issues, as well as working closely with local people. The ‘virtual team’ has had a direct impact on local communities improving their environment and helping to make communities safer.
The judges were impressed with the rigour in which we pursue fly-tippers in South Gloucestershire and our success in identifying perpetrators and successfully prosecuting them. The team has achieved an impressive 100 per cent record in securing successful prosecutions.
Cabinet Member for Communities and Tourism Cllr Paul Hughes said: “Congratulations to the team for winning this very well-deserved award, and also for their ongoing success in tackling this type of offence.
“Fly tipping is an issue that has a negative impact on our communities and local environment and we all have a responsibility to make sure that our waste is disposed of in the appropriate manner.
“Anyone that fly-tips in our area is five times more likely to be successfully prosecuted than anywhere else in the country. We have a 100 per cent record of securing successful prosecutions for this type of offence, so if you allow your rubbish to be fly tipped by failing to ensure it is correctly removed in South Gloucestershire, you can expect to be caught and prosecuted.”
The award was extremely competitive, with organisations from across the UK submitting nominations, making this a fantastic recognition of the team’s hard work.
The awards evening took place in Nottingham on Thursday 18 October.
For more information about reporting a fly-tip in South Gloucestershire visit www.southglos.gov.uk/flytipping
