The charity banks in Cambourne's Morrisons car park have gone after repeated dumping. Fly-tipping there now costs £420 to £700, and here is where to take things instead.
The charity clothes banks in the Morrisons car park in Cambourne, outside Home Bargains, have been removed after people kept dumping rubbish beside them.
South Cambridgeshire District Council says it has fined 24 people for fly-tipping at the site. It announced the removal and the fines in a news release on 24 September.
According to the council, the items left there included:
- vacuum cleaners and TVs
- mattresses and furniture
- child seats
- bags of recycling and rubbish
The council says none of those could have gone into the small bring banks even when they were empty.
Two years of enforcement at one car park
The council’s release gives the full count of action taken at the Cambourne site over the past two years. The 24 fines are made up of three kinds of fixed penalty notice.
| Action | Number |
|---|---|
| Fly-tipping fixed penalty notices | 14 |
| Littering fixed penalty notices | 8 |
| Duty of care fixed penalty notices | 2 |
| Warning letters | 7 |
| Prosecutions | 6 |
| Cases still under investigation | 11 |
The council did not say how many of the six prosecutions have ended, or with what result.
What a fine costs
The council’s fixed penalty notice page sets out the amounts. Each is cheaper if paid within 10 days.
| Offence | Paid within 10 days | Paid after 10 days |
|---|---|---|
| Fly-tipping | £420 | £700 |
| Duty of care | £360 | £600 |
| Depositing litter | £240 | £400 |
Fines must be paid online within 14 days. The council says ignoring one can lead to prosecution and a higher fine.
A duty of care fine is the one that catches people who did not dump anything themselves. Greater Cambridge Shared Waste says you can be fined if someone you paid to take your rubbish away fly-tips it. It advises using a registered waste carrier and asking for a waste transfer note.
What the council says
Cllr Laurence Damary-Homan, the council’s lead cabinet member for environment, said: “If there is no room in a container, please take your items home and return another day or use a Household Recycling Centre. If they get misused, they’ll be removed as we’ve seen in Cambourne.”
The three district councillors for Cambourne, Cllr Michael Booth, Cllr Helene Leeming and Cllr Amber Thomas, said in a joint statement that most people in the town “are thoroughly sick of seeing fly-tipping”.
The council’s envirocrimes team is now visiting charity and recycling bank sites across the district. Officers are talking to people who use them and working with site operators.
The council also notes a wider trend. It says rising costs and fly-tipping have led many textile recycling operators to cut the number of banks they run.
What it means for you
- The Cambourne banks are gone. Do not leave bags where they used to stand: that is fly-tipping, even with no bank there.
- Clothes in good condition can go to a charity shop, be sold second-hand or be given away through local groups, the council suggests.
- Bigger items can go to a household recycling centre. The two in the district are at Milton and Thriplow.
- Or book a bulky waste collection: £40 for up to three items, then £6.50 for each extra item, up to nine, according to Greater Cambridge Shared Waste.
- If you see fly-tipping, report it online, with the location, the time and a photo if you can. If you see it happening, the service says to call 999.
Our bin collection days page has your collection dates and what goes in each bin.
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