A month-long rural campaign clamping down on fly-tippers and illegal off-road bikers has been launched.
Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott is leading the campaign and focusing his efforts on the countryside, speaking to farmers, councils and residents about what impacts them the most.
He says he has seen shocking fly-tipping sites in the county and heard how illegal off-road bikers are destroying fields and crops.
He’s also urging people to respect where they live by keeping dogs on the lead around livestock and closing farmers’ gates if you’re out walking on rural paths and bridleways.
Figures from Kent County Council show that fly-tipping increased by 15.5% in the last seven years. In the South East as a whole, it rose by just over 8%.
Mr Scott says fly-tipping is a blight on the county and he’s been appalled at its scale.
“The clean-up costs not only the farmer, but also the taxpayer and it pollutes the fields which grow our crops,” he said.
“I’ve also been out with the specialist Rural Crime Task Force, to see how they are targeting vehicles they suspect are being used to dump waste illegally.
“Over the course of this month I’ll also be looking at a wide range of other rural issues, from road safety to antisocial behaviour.
“I’m hearing about more cases of off-road bikes, often ridden by children, trespassing and tearing up fields and local lanes.”
The Commissioner’s campaign is being supported by numerous countryside groups in Kent.
Amanda Corp from the NFU says they have seen more and more examples of private and industrial waste dumping, because of Covid.
“Quite often people are using bogus waste removal companies,” she added.
“They take your money, but they’re not genuine and they just come and dump your waste in farmers’ fields.
“This waste then contaminates the fields that feed our livestock and produce your food.”
when there was a perfectly good track for lads to ride on , out of the way near the bypass , people went out of their way to get it closed down ? now a crackdown on illegal riding , it dont make sense to me, and then they moan about youngsters hanging around the towns, surely it would be better to encourage a proper track for them ?
Very true instead there always at Dane valley near sure start ever day from 3pm onwards if you want to catch them. Bikes and car driven on the green
I believe the farmer of that land gives permission to ride there as it stops them riding on his crops, having a place of their own to go. It’s well off road and out the way of most people. It has been one of only a few places they can go for many years now.
Mr Scott . I thank you for all your hard work but if you want to resolve both problems make rubbish disposal easer and give young people somewhere to ride.
How’s Mr Scott going to give them a place to ‘ride’ ? He’s the Police and Crime commissioner! You need someone to purchase an appropriate piece of land and create a track for them to ride on, beats me why anyone would buy a track bike and then piss and moan that they have nowhere to ride it or it costs to much to get to the track in Maidstone or wherever it is🤷🏼♂️
I didn’t buy all my climbing equipment and then start crying and stamping my feet until KCC/TDC built me a bloody mountain.
His only interest is in punishment, not solutions. Another one who likes the impression of being tough on crime & show arrests to justify the position & especially near election time, rather than actually preventing it. As we have seen for decades you cannot arrest your way out of social issues & expect anything other than the same result, or usually worse down the line-but it wins votes from the tabloid readers & affluent.
Never mind about off road bikers what about clamping down on the On road bikers. The noise levels from some of these bikes far exceeds the legal level of decibels and many don’t have number plates. The police want to clamp down on them. Apparently the riders take something out of the exhaust to make them sound louder.
Your right Bill, these people remove the baffles from the exhaust pipes of their motor bikes, just to make it sound as if they have a great deal of power between their legs! They don’t mind waking night workers up, during the day, all because they think it makes them look, and sound great, Duurh!
A motor cyclist can be seen around Ramsgate’s Margate Road area, that is silent however! He is riding an electric motor bike, without a helmet, and exceeding the speed limit! So what are the police doing about this anti-social menace? And don’t get me started on illegal electric scooters! These are all illegal unless they are being hired from a reputable dealer taking part in a scheme to see if they can become legal! I was nearly hit by a child on Boundary Road, Ramsgate who was trying to ride it on the pavement! He was wobbling all over the place, and had he hit me he probably would have ended up in the traffic, what were his parents thinking of, he couldn’t have been more that 9 0r 10!
I have been close to being hit by these damned machines on 5 occasions inn the last year or so, the last time I nearly killed the ride, because oddly he was on the road, when mostly ride on the pavement! I was on my bike, and this idiot suddenly shot round a parked car, on the wrong side of the road, and straight at me! I managed to stop, but had I hit him both of us would have been injured, something I do not need at my age, nearly 80!
K.P.C.C. =hot air = lucky to catch them if they can. is a month all you have to offer?
Just as read this, three off-road scramblers speed along Northdown Road making a racket, none have number plates on. A red and white, a black and a yellow one all heading towards Margate. The police were driving in opposite direction and did nothing either. These three have been riding up and down here for at least 4 months now without being caught.
When are the police going to take note and start stopping excessively noisy bikes and cars that are driven anti-socially and illegally in Thanet?
How would you stop 3 off-road bikes on a busy Northdown Road without potentially injuring/killing them or members of the public?
Members of the public i’d have concerns about, the bike riders need only comply and stop if they choose not to then they need to accept the consequences. Or are we to just let them do as they wish setting a poor example for the law abiding majority? Most have seen the footage of the tactics the met police used against the “scooter robbers”, knocking them off was seen as acceptable so i’ve no problem the same tactics being used here. There are a few bikes that seem to do circuits around the broadstairs ramsgate border at night making a right rackett.
Just ridiculous, is Mathew Scott actually some sort of comedian?
Why advertise, and let them know there is going to be a one month clampdown?
Just hold on to your rubbish for a month, then you are free to dump where you like again.
We pay our council tax every month not just one month a year. These so-called “ clamped downs” are just a publicity headline grab which is a pathetic act to try and hood wink the taxpayers. Do the job you are paid for and stop trying to be camera bait.
Bill
That’s a great point that you make, very true.