Bensham Manor recorded 8,774 reported incidents between January and July 2026, with Brigstock Road the borough’s worst-affected street but there’s a reason the figures are skewed
Croydon Council has insisted its “zero tolerance” approach to fly-tipping is “not a slogan” as new figures reveal that, despite thousands of incidents being reported, it issued just one fly-tipping-related fine in a year.
Bensham Manor, in the north of the borough, topped the list with 8,774 reported fly-tipping incidents between January and July 2026, while Brigstock Road emerged as the most affected street.
However, local resident and activist Graham Mitchell believes the figures do not tell the full story about how waste is reported in Croydon and an apparent lack of enforcement.
Bensham Manor’s figures were revealed in papers published ahead of Croydon Council’s Streets and Environment Scrutiny Sub-Committee on Monday (September 14). The ward recorded significantly more fly-tipping reports than second-placed Norbury and Pollards Hill, which had 5,027, while West Thornton recorded 4,510.
Brigstock Road also recorded 750 reports of waste dumping between January and July, making it the borough’s most reported fly-tipped street. Bensham Manor Road followed with 463 reports, ahead of Melfort Road with 375, Langdale Road with 346 and Bensham Lane with 343.
“Obviously I am disappointed and shocked that my home ward is featuring regularly in the top spot,” Mitchell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). Despite his disappointment, Mitchell said Bensham Manor’s high numbers could be explained by the local context.
“It’s a different housing situation in the north, there are a lot of rentals, probably more private properties in the south and people might have a bit more pride the area and don’t indulge in fly-tipping,” he said. He also believes the high concentration of small shops with flats above them, particularly around places like Brigstock Road, may help explain the high number of reports.
In Croydon, residents living in flats above shops use black bin bags for their waste, which are left at designated points for collection by waste contractor Veolia. However, these collection points are often located on pavements outside the properties, which Mitchell believes can lead to piles of bin bags being mistaken for fly-tipping incidents.
“They are inflating the numbers and fly-tipping begets fly-tipping,” he told the LDRS. “If you see a black bag, some one will put another one beside it.”
He added: “People also don’t know when they need to put their bags out. They can look up on the website about when they are collected but there is no guidance as to when they can actually put them out.”
“If people put them out on a Tuesday before the Thursday collection, the guidance says to report that as a fly-tip,” he said.
Mitchell is a regular user of the Love Clean Streets app, Croydon Council’s preferred way for residents to report environmental issues like fly-tipping.
The council’s Cabinet Member for Streets and Enforcement, Alasdair Stewart, told the LDRS that high levels of reporting in wards like Bensham Manor “significantly distort” the fly-tipping figures.
He added: “A very small number of exceptionally prolific individuals in this community submit hundreds of reports often daily, including duplicates and incidents that are plainly routine street-cleaning issues rather than fly-tipping.”
Enforcement or lip service?
Mitchell also questioned the council’s ability to catch people responsible for fly-tipping, pointing to its own figures for enforcement. According to Croydon’s own published fixed penalty notice (FPN) data, the council submitted 319 environmental FPNs between April 2025 and March 2026.
However, only one fine was classified as “Illegal depositing waste (fly-tipping)” during that period. According to Mitchell, that £1,000 fine was issued in February 2026 in the Woodside ward after an officer witnessed someone fly-tipping, according to the figures supplied.
Mitchell said Croydon’s record suggested the enforcement system was not working effectively. “That is a hopeless ratio, it doesn’t say to me that they are set up right to catch fly tippers,” he said.
He also questioned whether it was fair for Croydon Council to continue insisting on its “zero tolerance” approach to fly-tipping in light of the fines data. “It’s just a slogan,” he said. “Words on paper.”
In an attempt to strengthen enforcement, Croydon’s Conservative administration is advancing its Caught on Camera scheme, which uses CCTV to identify suspected fly-tippers. However, Mitchell remains sceptical of the approach.
He cited an example shown to residents at a recent local meeting, which featured footage of an individual leaving folded-up cardboard boxes at a spot where other waste had already been dumped. Mitchell questioned why that person had been caught on camera when, he said, many others had also appeared to be leaving waste there.
Mitchell said the response given to residents was not clear and did little to inspire confidence in the system. Asked what he believes is needed to improve Croydon’s fly-tipping record, he said greater enforcement and clearer communication were key.
“What people want to see is action,” he said. “Fining people and, in the right situation, publicising it.”
He added: “It’s up to the council to solve the problem, not up to the residents of Bensham Manor. They can do better by showing some pride, but we need an expectation of what people can and can’t do and we need a deterrent.”
In response, Councillor Stewart told the LDRS: “Zero tolerance is not a slogan: we make reporting easy, clear waste quickly and pursue offenders wherever the evidence allows.”
“Croydon has deliberately made reporting quick and easy through the Love Clean Streets app, unlike many councils that put residents through lengthy forms or email processes. This helps us clear 90% of reported fly-tips within 24 hours, but it also pushes our reported numbers higher.
“We can only prosecute or issue an FPN where there is evidence identifying an offender. We are stepping up targeted enforcement through our Caught on Camera website, extra Parkguard patrols, mobile CCTV and focused action at hotspots including this part of the borough.”
At the other end of the scale a string of people in the London Borough of Hounslow are being fined £1,000 for ‘fly-tipping’ when many of the incidents are arguably littering offences. These include an NHS nurse who was fined £1,000 after she placed a cardboard Amazon envelope on a pile of other cardboard next to overflowing communal bins that had not been emptied by the council.
To see all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your area, enter your postcode below or visit the Public Notice Portal HERE
