This comes alongside a warning to residents using dodgy ‘cheaper than a skip’ waste disposal service, whose operators may be ‘linked to organised crime groups’.
Police say by using these illegal services, residents could be helping drugs reach their communities, and funding the theft of plant, tools, and farm machinery.
These services often advertise on social meal, according to police, but residents are urged to check they have the correct permits for legitimate waste disposal before agreeing to let them carry out the work.
Households need to ‘take responsibility for the waste they create’ and do all they can to avoid it ending up in the county’s fields and waterways, police added.
On Wednesday, March 25, 29 representatives from Environment Agency (EA), borough councils, Cheshire Police, and the police and crime commissioner’s came together to developed a joined-up approach to tackling the problem of illegal waste dumping.
Sergeant Rob Simpson, head of Cheshire Police’s rural crime team, described it as ‘a great event’, adding: “We saw presentations included from other parts of the UK on how they are tackling this serious issue.
“We want to make Cheshire a hostile environment for waste criminals to operate.
“We want to support those who run legitimate businesses who make an honest living, and tackle those who look to dump waste in the fields where are food is grown, and in the waterways we get our drinking water from.
Check people’s permits to carry waste, ask for a delivery receipt.
“It doesn’t take long to check them out and if anything seems suspicious, let the Environment Agency and local authority know.
“We are in fortunate in Cheshire to have a Rural Crime Team who has a specific portfolio of work in this area, so we look forward to more disruption, more arrests and more prosecutions as we move forward.”
