Labour's Rubbish - Fly-tipping soars yet again

Lib Dem campaigners have again condemned the Labour Council’s inaction on litter and fly-tipping as official figures name Lewisham as the third-worst borough in the entire country for illegal rubbish dumping.

In the most recent release from Defra – the government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Lewisham recorded 33,471 incidents of illegal fly-tipping in 2024-25, a 21 percent increase on figures for the previous year.

Blackheath ward campaigner, Jean Branch says, “I was born and brought up here and I have never known it be this bad. Labour promised at the last election to get to grips with fly-tipping and instead we’ve gone backwards.”

Lewisham Liberal Democrats are pushing the Council for a full review of rubbish and recycling so we can finally make improvements.

“There are plenty of actions the Council could take, including cameras to catch repeat offenders, changes to bulky waste charges and increased opening hours at the Landmann Way recycling centre,” says Jean.

“For a start, Labour needs to admit they’ve lost control and seek support from other London authorities like Lib Dem-run Kingston, which regularly perform far better.”

When compared to the boroughs’ populations, Lewisham recorded one incident of illegal fly-tipping for every 9 people. This is twice the rate of neighbouring Greenwich, over five times that of Bromley and eight times that of the best-rated London borough, Kingston upon Thames.