Fly-tipping in Chelmsford council area: incidents, enforcement and fines

Among the 267 councils in England that count all incidents, Chelmsford had the 12th lowest rate of fly-tipping per resident in 2024/25. Of the 44 ranked councils in the East of England, it had the 2nd lowest rate. The count was down 20% on 2023/24 (810), against a rise of 9% in Defra's England total.

The region and England columns add up the 44 councils in the East of England and the 269 councils in England that count all incidents.

Highways accounted for the most incidents in Chelmsford: 571, or 88% (England 33%). Compared with England, a larger share was on commercial or industrial land (4.0% against 0.3%).

The most common kind of waste was other household waste, in 335 incidents (52%; England 44%). Relative to England, Chelmsford had a larger share of vehicle parts (3.4% against 0.9%), other commercial waste (6.6% against 2.9%) and construction, demolition and excavation waste (10.5% against 5.5%). Hazardous waste: 8 incidents involved asbestos, 1 incident involved clinical waste and 2 incidents involved chemical drums, oil and fuel.

13% were a car boot load or less (England 53%). 58% were van loads (England 43%). 183 incidents were the size of a tipper lorry load or larger (28.3%; England 3.7%): 144 tipper lorry loads and 39 significant or multiple loads.

The council took 242 enforcement actions against fly-tipping in 2024/25, 37.2 for every 100 incidents (England 42.1, the East of England 43.8). The most common action was investigations (203, 84% of all actions; England 68%). It issued 22 fixed penalty notices (9.1% of its actions; England 8.4%): 1 for fly-tipping itself, 5 to householders who passed waste to an unlicensed carrier (household duty of care) and 16 of other kinds.

No prosecutions were recorded. Among the 254 councils ranked on enforcement, Chelmsford had the 127th lowest rate of actions per 100 incidents and the 80th highest share of fixed penalty notices.

The chart shows fly-tipping incidents per 1,000 residents in Chelmsford in each year from 2021/22 to 2024/25, with Defra's England total. The rate was below the England total's in every one of those 4 years. The series starts in 2021/22 because the count went from 312 in 2020/21 to 640 in 2021/22 while England's changed by −4%; a step that large (more than double or less than half England's change) is treated here as a change in how the council records fly-tipping, so earlier years are not compared.

Of the 44 councils in the East of England ranked for 2024/25, Great Yarmouth had the highest rate (76.8 per 1,000) and West Suffolk the lowest (1.5). Great Yarmouth's count went from 1,153 in 2023/24 to 7,720 in 2024/25 while England's changed by +9%, a step that may reflect a change in how the council records fly-tipping. Tendring is listed but not ranked: ranks cover only councils that count all incidents, with 100 or more in the year.

Source: Defra, fly-tipping statistics for England, local authority table (published 25 February 2026), gov.uk, Open Government Licence v3.0. What is counted, and how councils differ: fly-tipping in England.