Sunderland urged to ‘community skip’ scheme to reduce fly-tipping

Sunderland City Council is being asked to consider “community skips” in an attempt to fight against fly-tipping.

Under a proposal to be voted on at a full council meeting on Wednesday, November 11, skips would be placed in every ward for residents’ use. It is suggested that trials would be held in three wards: Deptford & Hendon, Pallion & Ford and Washington Central.

Sunderland City Council's opposition Liberal Democrat group has urged local authority bosses to introduce a 'community skip' scheme for the city. It is hoped this would cut fly-tipping and cut wait times for bulky waste collections.

placeholder image — Sunderland City Council's opposition Liberal Democrat group has urged local authority bosses to introduce a 'community skip' scheme for the city. It is hoped this would cut fly-tipping and cut wait times for bulky waste collections.

It is proposed that those using the skips would need to produce appropriate identification first.

The scheme has been proposed and backed by Liberal Democrat councillors, who form the main opposition on the Reform UK-led authority.

They say the aim is to reduce fly-tipping, ease pressure on bulky waste collections and have a cleaner city.

Also under discussion at the meeting are measures for “maintaining and improving access to free bulky waste collections” across Sunderland. Currently a collection of up to six items is free to residents.

Cllr Heather Fagan, who represents Doxford Park for the Lib Dems, said: “We actually proposed this some years ago, particularly for areas like Millfield where you have a lot of students moving out.

“At the moment we have a big backlog on bulky waste in the city. Some places are taking between six and eight weeks for collection. Some people can’t store it outside.

“A community skip would give people a chance to have a good clear-out of things that need bulky waste collections.

“It would need to be worked out so it isn’t abused for commercial waste.

“It will need to be monitored and skips would have to be in the right location so that it doesn’t cause a nuisance for people. But I do think we could work out a solution to help clear the backlog off bulky waste and also help on fly-tipping.

“We’ve suggested trialling it in a couple of areas first to see how it goes, then we can iron out any teething issues and take it from there, maybe rotating it around the city, even if it’s just once a year where we have a skip in different wards.

“I do think it would be a workable solution.”

Similar pilot community skip initiatives have recently been launched by Southwark and Lambeth councils in London.

Sunderland City Council will discuss the plans at Wednesday’s meeting.