Even in lockdown fly tipping is a serious crime and everyone is responsible for taking steps to ensure their waste is disposed of correctly. This includes you checking that anyone taking your waste away is a registered carrier.

Fly tipping not only spoils our outstanding environment, but also unnecessarily costs the tax payer to clean up. Even green (garden) waste damages sites by spreading invasive plants and impacting our native plants and wildlife.

During the past two years the Environmental Health service of East Devon District Council has investigated 49 littering and fly tipping cases and issued 25 fixed penalty notices. They have collected £3,460 in fines and £1,263 in clean up reimbursement costs. Our current figures for January to March are only 26 cases up from last year (within seasonal variation), but we are concerned that the figures for April may be higher.

Since February 2020, we’ve introduced an additional fixed penalty fine against householders who fail in their duty of care in respect of how their waste is disposed.

The penalty is exactly the same as it already is for anyone caught actually fly-tipping waste themselves and we will always look to catch and prosecute anyone either caught in the act of fly tipping or using an unlicensed carrier:

• £200 fine (reduced to £120 if paid within ten days of service of the notice) for small fly tips of 180 litres (a standard wheeled bin) or less.
• £400 fine (reduced to £200 if paid within ten days of service of the notice) for medium and large fly tips.

You must either pass waste on to the council’s collection service, or take certain waste to recycling centres (when they reopen) or pass it on to registered waste carriers. You must not pass waste on to any person who does not hold a licence.

If unlicensed collectors are used they may fly tip the waste and in these cases, it is you, the householder who remains responsible for it. If the fly tipper cannot be found then the originator of the waste can be issued with a fixed penalty notice.

Householders can check that waste carriers are licensed on the Environment Agency website .

Please tell us about a fly tipping problem that you have seen in East Devon. You can report any incidents of fly tipping either via the East Devon website or on the East Devon app. 

Here’s how you can help protect the countryside, our staff and the public while we are in lockdown:

• Keep waste to a minimum and store it until recycling centres reopen
• Ensure that if a contractor disposes of waste on your behalf they do so appropriately
• Report any fly tipping that you see, particularly if you see those responsible or there is evidence present that you can identify them

Local Broadclyst resident Julie (who is 79 years old) has been inspired by recent fundraising events and is currently raising money to aid CLYST CARING FRIENDS who provide a Transport service, social activities and a day centre for local elderly, inform, disabled or isolated residents.

Julie is looking to complete 100 laps – totalling 6.2 miles around where she lives, as a sufferer of COPD and other mobility issues she hopes to achieve this with the help of her walker and by completing a minimum of 5 laps a day. Julie's fundraising challenge began on Sunday 19th April 2020.

To sponsor Julie, please visit the website.

East Devon District Council has paid more than £35m in grants to support 2999 local businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, 51 organisations have declined the grant. In the event that your business does not wish to accept the grant, please complete the grant refusal form because confirmation is needed when a grant is declined. Government has issued new advice on these payments, confirming that grants are taxable when a business is in profit.

Government launches the Bounce Back Loan scheme to address difficulties faced by small and medium sized businesses on Monday 4 May. It will provide 100% guaranteed loans for a period of up to 6 years between £2000 and £50,000, with no repayments fees or interest in the first 12 months. Businesses which have claimed a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) cannot take a Bounce Back Loan, but loans can be transferred to the new scheme.

There are still places available for FREE training with online webinars to help you respond to the current challenging circumstances. You can book to increase online sales  and maximise business opportunities remotely, with more webinars to be announced.

As the lockdown extension continues, our ingenuity and creativity continues to emerge in many different ways. Not least is the response from individuals who have answered the call to help produce Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline staff.  This is exactly what East Devon District Council engineer Hal Furneaux-Gotch has been doing with his wife Hannah, while working from home. In his spare time, Hal is using his technical skills to produce PPE using a 3D printer in his living room.

Read more

Please help our collection crews by putting large quantities of single materials, which would normally go in your recycling box, in a container separate from your green recycling box. Putting glass or cardboard in a separate box makes the collection a bit easier for them and is greatly appreciated by our crews. You can use a cardboard box or any old storage box as your extra container.

Hand hygiene

Please wash your hands after handling your recycling and waste containers to and from the kerbside. Our crews are following the best hygiene practices they can but they are coming into contact with a high number of containers every day.

Concerns about your recycling and waste collections

Thank you to everyone who has raised concerns about why their waste has not been collected. There may be several reasons as to why the waste hasn't been taken:

• It is possible the material left for collection could not be identified by the crew, i.e. waste secured in black bags
• Some waste could have been contaminated
• Or the crews could not get to the areas due to staff shortages/access issues

If your recycling or waste hasn't been collected you can report using the East Devon app or via the website. Before you report it, please wait until 5pm because the collection crew may still be out working. Also check that:

• your containers were out on the right day
• your containers were out by 7am
• your containers were out in the correct place
• the correct waste was in the containers

This week artist and tree dowser Gordon Field shows us three tree exercises. Through artworks, interventions and events, Gordon makes others aware of the world around us and our place within it. Through his work, trees reveal to him their overall well-being and how they will cope with future changes. These exercises will hopefully help you do the same!

Watch out for the next NATURE SHORT - Wed 6 May

artisttreedowser.com

Part of Culture + Climate 2020 in partnership with East Devon AONB, NATURE SHORTS is an online series showcasing art practices which inspire, build creativity and deepen our connection with nature especially during isolation. Every Wednesday April - June

Although our nature reserves remain open for local residents to use as part of our daily exercise, many regular visitors who live further than a short walk away are missing the sights, sounds and serenity that our ten reserves can provide. To enable our visitors to remain connected with what’s going on at our sites as well as the work we’re able to continue to complete during this period we are regularly feeding our social media and website with wildlife updates, outdoor activities for your garden, and nature reserve management insights.

Check out @wildeastdevon to get the latest.

With our events programme suspended until June at the earliest, we have been filling the void by posting videos the help experience our events at home. In our latest instalment, meditation instructor Katherine Bolton from Pebblemoon takes you through a guided meditation in the beautiful surroundings of Seaton Wetlands from the sheltered pond dipping area. Enjoy the sounds and peace for 30 minutes. For meditation classes we’ll be running later in the year please look at our events guide.