Fly-tipping in North Lincolnshire council area: incidents, enforcement and fines
1,267 fly-tipping incidents were recorded in North Lincolnshire in 2024/25 (April 2024 to March 2025), according to the council's return to Defra: 7.4 for every 1,000 residents. That is lower than the rate across the councils in England that also count all incidents (21.1) and lower than the rate for those in Yorkshire and The Humber (17.9). The council took 142 enforcement actions, including 1 fixed penalty notice and no prosecutions.
Table of Contents
- Fly-tipping in North Lincolnshire at a glance, 2024/25
- Where fly-tipping happened in North Lincolnshire
- What was fly-tipped in North Lincolnshire
- How big the fly-tips were in North Lincolnshire
- Fly-tipping enforcement and fines in North Lincolnshire
- Fly-tipping in Yorkshire and The Humber councils, 2024/25
- Related pages
- Questions about fly-tipping in North Lincolnshire
- About these figures
Among the 267 councils in England that count all incidents, North Lincolnshire had the 80th lowest rate of fly-tipping per resident in 2024/25. Of the 14 ranked councils in Yorkshire and The Humber, it had the 5th lowest rate. No change on the year is given: the count went from 486 in 2023/24 to 1,267 in 2024/25 while England's changed by +9%; 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.
| Measure | North Lincolnshire | Yorkshire and The Humber (councils counting all incidents) | England (councils counting all incidents) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fly-tipping incidents | 1,267 | 86,447 | 1,077,530 |
| Incidents per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 17.9 | 21.1 |
| Share on highways | 13% | 26% | 33% |
| Tipper lorry loads or larger | 283 | 5,193 | 38,558 |
| Enforcement actions per 100 incidents | 11.2 | 40.5 | 42.1 |
| Fixed penalty notices per 100 incidents | 0.1 | 1.4 | 3.5 |
| Prosecutions | 0 | 197 | 1,089 |
The region and England columns add up the 14 councils in Yorkshire and The Humber and the 269 in England that count all incidents. In England, 26 councils that count only some incidents or changed how they count during the year, and 1 with no figure, are left out. The enforcement figures also leave out 4 councils that returned no actions or only part of a year: Isles of Scilly, Cheltenham, Chorley and Liverpool.
Back alleyways accounted for the most incidents in North Lincolnshire (682, 54%). 13% of incidents were on highways, against 33% across England.
| Land type | Incidents | Share | England share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Back alleyway | 682 | 53.8% | 9.0% |
| Council land | 347 | 27.4% | 18.4% |
| Highway | 162 | 12.8% | 33.4% |
| Footpath or bridleway | 45 | 3.6% | 20.7% |
| Agricultural land | 11 | 0.9% | 0.3% |
| Watercourse or bank | 11 | 0.9% | 0.2% |
| Private or residential land | 6 | 0.5% | 1.1% |
| Commercial or industrial land | 2 | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Other or not identified | 1 | 0.1% | 16.2% |
| Railway | 0 | 0.0% | 0.2% |
The most common kind of waste was other household waste, in 703 incidents (55%; England 44%). Relative to England, North Lincolnshire had a larger share of tyres (2.2% against 1.1%) and black bags (household) (28.5% against 17.2%). Hazardous waste: 1 incident involved asbestos and 2 incidents involved chemical drums, oil and fuel.
| Waste type | Incidents | Share | England share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other household waste | 703 | 55.5% | 43.6% |
| Black bags (household) | 361 | 28.5% | 17.2% |
| White goods | 48 | 3.8% | 4.7% |
| Black bags (commercial) | 35 | 2.8% | 2.4% |
| Tyres | 28 | 2.2% | 1.1% |
| Construction, demolition and excavation waste | 24 | 1.9% | 5.5% |
| Green waste | 19 | 1.5% | 2.9% |
| Other or not identified | 16 | 1.3% | 15.9% |
| Other commercial waste | 14 | 1.1% | 2.9% |
| Vehicle parts | 8 | 0.6% | 0.9% |
| Other electrical items | 5 | 0.4% | 1.7% |
| Animal carcasses | 3 | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Chemical drums, oil and fuel | 2 | 0.2% | 0.5% |
| Asbestos | 1 | 0.1% | 0.3% |
43% were a car boot load or less (England 53%). 34% were van loads (England 43%). 283 incidents were the size of a tipper lorry load or larger (22.4%; England 3.7%): 266 tipper lorry loads and 17 significant or multiple loads.
| Size | Incidents | Share | England share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single black bag | 18 | 1.4% | 9.2% |
| Single item | 182 | 14.4% | 16.3% |
| Car boot load or less | 348 | 27.5% | 27.3% |
| Small van load | 343 | 27.1% | 30.8% |
| Transit van load | 92 | 7.3% | 12.7% |
| Tipper lorry load | 266 | 21.0% | 2.4% |
| Significant or multiple loads | 17 | 1.3% | 1.3% |
The council took 142 enforcement actions against fly-tipping in 2024/25, 11.2 for every 100 incidents (England 42.1, Yorkshire and The Humber 40.5). The most common action was investigations (137, 96% of all actions; England 68%). It issued 1 fixed penalty notice (0.7% of its actions; England 8.4%): 1 for fly-tipping itself.
No prosecutions were recorded. Among the 254 councils ranked on enforcement, North Lincolnshire had the 51st lowest rate of actions per 100 incidents and the 44th lowest share of fixed penalty notices.
| Action | Number | Per 100 incidents | England per 100 incidents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investigations | 137 | 10.8 | 28.8 |
| Warning letters | 3 | 0.2 | 5.5 |
| Statutory notices | 0 | 0.0 | 1.7 |
| Fixed penalty notices | 1 | 0.1 | 3.5 |
| Duty of care inspections | 0 | 0.0 | 2.5 |
| Stop and search | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Vehicles seized | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Formal cautions | 1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Prosecutions | 0 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
Of the 14 councils in Yorkshire and The Humber ranked for 2024/25, Kingston upon Hull had the highest rate (49.6 per 1,000) and East Riding of Yorkshire the lowest (3.0). Kingston upon Hull's count went from 6,147 in 2023/24 to 13,663 in 2024/25 while England's changed by +9%, a step that may reflect a change in how the council records fly-tipping. Leeds is listed but not ranked: ranks cover only councils that count all incidents, with 100 or more in the year.
| Council | Incidents | Per 1,000 | Actions per 100 incidents | Rank in region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston upon Hull | 13,663 | 49.6 | 57.3 | 1st of 14; count 6,147 in 2023/24 |
| Bradford | 19,697 | 34.9 | 22.6 | 2nd of 14 |
| Kirklees | 10,120 | 22.6 | 15.7 | 3rd of 14 |
| Barnsley | 5,404 | 21.5 | 21.4 | 4th of 14 |
| Sheffield | 12,237 | 21.0 | 15.3 | 5th of 14 |
| Wakefield | 6,934 | 18.9 | 21.0 | 6th of 14 |
| Rotherham | 5,200 | 18.8 | 91.8 | 7th of 14 |
| North East Lincolnshire | 2,129 | 13.3 | 29.2 | 8th of 14 |
| York | 2,309 | 11.0 | 127.9 | 9th of 14 |
| North Lincolnshire | 1,267 | 7.4 | 11.2 | 10th of 14; count 486 in 2023/24 |
| Doncaster | 1,937 | 6.1 | 264.2 | 11th of 14 |
| Calderdale | 1,139 | 5.4 | 14.1 | 12th of 14 |
| North Yorkshire | 3,329 | 5.2 | 69.5 | 13th of 14 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 1,082 | 3.0 | 51.1 | 14th of 14 |
| Leeds | 13,923 | 16.5 | – | Not ranked: counts public reports only |
- Fly-tipping in England: every council compared
- Crime statistics for North Lincolnshire (police recorded crime, from data.police.uk)
How many fly-tipping incidents were there in North Lincolnshire in 2024/25?
1,267 incidents were recorded in 2024/25, 7.4 per 1,000 residents, against 21.1 across the councils in England that count all incidents.
What is the fine for fly-tipping in North Lincolnshire?
North Lincolnshire council did not report its fixed penalty amount to Defra for 2024/25; councils set it between £150 and £1,000. In 2024/25 it issued 1 fixed penalty notice (1 for fly-tipping itself).
Where does fly-tipping happen in North Lincolnshire?
In 2024/25 fly-tipping was most often recorded on back alleyways (682, 54%), council land (347, 27%) and highways (162, 13%).
What gets fly-tipped in North Lincolnshire?
Other household waste (703), black bags (household) (361) and white goods (48) were the most common kinds of waste in 2024/25.
How do I report fly-tipping in North Lincolnshire?
Report it to the council for North Lincolnshire, which clears fly-tipping on public land and investigates it. Large-scale or hazardous dumping can also be reported to the Environment Agency.
About these figures: source, Defra, fly-tipping statistics for England, local authority table (published 25 February 2026), gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. An incident is an illegal deposit of waste that a council dealt with or had reported to it, from a single black bag to multiple lorry loads; councils return the figures to Defra through WasteDataFlow each quarter.
Most fly-tipping on private land is cleared by the landowner and is not counted, and the largest and most organised dumping is dealt with by the Environment Agency, which is not included. Since 2019/20 Defra has recorded whether each council counts all incidents or only those reported by the public or found by its own staff. Councils that count only some incidents record fewer, so they, and councils that changed how they count during the year, are not ranked here. Sizes are recorded for the incidents a council investigated and cleared, so they can add up to fewer than all incidents.
Enforcement actions include investigations, warning letters, fixed penalty notices and prosecutions; court fine figures exclude fixed penalty payments. Rates are per resident, so council areas where many people work or visit but few live, such as central London, have high rates for that reason.
Rates use the population in Defra's table (ONS mid-year estimates). Defra's England total includes every council and its estimates for missing returns. On this page the England and region comparisons add up only the councils that count all incidents, and their enforcement figures leave out councils that returned no actions or only part of a year, as the ranks do; the chart's England line is Defra's total.