Bedlington man fined for fly-tipping in Lynemouth field

William McPhee, 23, of Lily Avenue, Bedlington pleaded guilty to fly-tipping waste in a field at the North Side of Deneside, Lynemouth.

At Newcastle Magistrates Court on Friday, October 27 he was fined £480 (reduced to £320 for his early guilty plea), ordered to pay £381 in costs and a victim surcharge of £34 - a total financial penalty of £735.

In May 2022, Northumberland County Council received reports that a large amount of garden waste had been fly-tipped on land in the middle of a farmer's field at the North Side of Deneside, Lynemouth.

Officers from the council’s environmental enforcement team were instructed to investigate.

McPhee, who was identified as the suspected culprit, was called in to be interviewed but failed to attend on both scheduled occasions.

Cllr Gordon Stewart, the council’s cabinet member for looking after our communities, said: “We have a zero-tolerance approach to fly tipping which damages the environment and is extremely time consuming and costly to investigate and clean up.

“This prosecution is another example of how our environmental protection and street cleansing teams are taking a strong stance against fly-tipping and hope it sends the message that we will pursue these individuals, wherever they live, and will not hesitate to take action against them.”

He added: “This waste could easily have been taken to one of our nearby Household Waste Recovery Centres. There is no excuse for fly-tipping.”