We’ve written to the paper in response to the article Farmers terrified of £1bn ‘trash mafia’ dumping rubbish on an industrial scale.
NFU President Meurig Raymond wrote: ‘Fly-tipping is a serious issue that many farmers deal with on a daily basis, causing inconvenience and costing them thousands of pounds to rid their land of these acts of crime. It is time that more action is taken to solve this problem and your article on Saturday 25 February illustrates this well.
‘All fly-tipping is an eyesore, but this is not regular fly-tipping. This is serious, industrial crime that is blighting our countryside. I have written to Justice Secretary Liz Truss, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners to stress that much tougher action is needed.
‘The NFU wants Magistrates to impose more severe sentences for fly-tipping offences and we have urged the NPCC and APCC to prioritise more resource so that rural crime can be investigated as a high priority.
‘This issue falls across a number of Government departments including the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Defra. It is imperative that we have a joined up policy to protect our countryside that is being contaminated, desecrated and despoiled by fly-tipping.’