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Environmental Crime

We have a wide remit in relation to environmental crime. We deal with waste offences both proactively and reactively. These issues include: 

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Each year we investigate a large number of reported offences. We investigate with a view to taking action against offenders to reduce the level of environmental crime. 

There are a team of specialist officers that carry out investigations and use a range of tools including:

  • High profile foot patrols of problem areas
  • Surveillance of problem areas
  • Collection of statements from members of the public or partner agencies

Environmental Crime has an negative effect on our communities, as well as costing tax payers a significant amount of money each year to clean up. 

It is vital that you report any environmental crime. This is so that we may investigate it with a view to taking action against the offender. Action taken includes:

  • Issuing fixed penalty notices or
  • Taking the matter through to the Magistrates Court for prosecution, in the more serious cases.

This is to ensure that Cornwall remains a beautiful place to live, work and visit.

Should you witness anything which you feel is an offence, as long as it is safe to do so, please make note of any relevant information including:

  • The day, date and time you saw the flytipping or crime
  • How many people, what they looked like, what they were actually doing
  • Any vehicles involved - their make, colour, and registration number
  • What kind of view you had, how far away you were, weather and light conditions
Report it

Ultimately we rely on people reporting issues that they witness in their community for us to be able to take action.

Use the online reporting forms for specific issues:

Fixed Penalty Notice Statistics

We receive a substantial number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. These are often for data regarding the number of fixed penalty notices served for environmental crimes. These crimes include:

  • Dog fouling
  • Fly tipping
  • Abandoned vehicles and
  • Grafitti

We have provided some information below which may be of help if you are considering submitting an FOI request:

An explanation of the terms used in these statistics is below:

  • Cancelled notices – these are notices that have been cancelled by the authority for evidential reasons
  • Non complied notices – notices that are not complied with and are not cancelled have progressed to prosecution.
Fly Tipping data by Parish

You can access data of fly tipping service requests dealt with over the last four financial years via the following link.