Calls for MPs to debate waste crime have been rebuffed by the leader of the House of Commons.
During Parliamentary session on 8 March, Amanda Milling, Conservative MP for Cannock Chase, referred to two recent high-profile waste fires in Staffordshire, one of which was an illegal site near Rugeley.
“This has been a horrendous experience for local residents, and the fire service has faced significant costs in managing these incidents during the past six months,” she told MPs.
Later, Craig Tacey, a fellow Tory MP from North Warwickshire, referred to “the huge increase” in fly-tipping across North Warwickshire and Bedworth.
“A recent episode near the village of Austrey led to an entire road being blocked by the rubbish deposited on it,” he said.
But leader of the house, David Liddington, told Milling she had raised an important point on behalf of her constituents but “I cannot offer an immediate debate in Government time”.
He advised that she might find an opportunity through other Parliamentary means.
Liddington told Tacey: “Many of us will have experience of what my hon. friend rightly terms this ‘scourge’ in our constituencies, and he is right to speak out today.
“Where fly-tipping involves hazardous waste or organised crime, the Environment Agency has a role to play, so he might want to make representations to it.