A Chippenham man has been handed a massive fine for fly-tipping his household rubbish in the rural Wiltshire countryside. 

Joseph Hillier of Stockwood Road, Chippenham, pleaded guilty at Swindon Magistrates Court to two counts of fly-tipping his household waste in rural areas of Corsham in spring 2022.

For his illegal actions, Mr Hillier was fined a total of £2,001, including costs, on Friday, September 30.

Armed with "relevant evidence", Wiltshire Council Environmental Enforcement Officers initially interviewed Hillier under caution, when he admitted to the two deposits of fly-tipping in the countryside.  

The court then heard how Hillier had a build-up of rubbish at home, which he intended to take to the household recycling centre (HRC) at Stanton St Quinton near Chippenham.

He arrived at the HRC only to find it was closed.

'Act of stupidity'

Then, in what Wiltshire Council described as "an act of stupidity", he decided to dump the rubbish on a country lane on his journey back home. 

The council added: "Not satisfied with dumping his first load of waste, he then repeated the act in another rural area of Corsham a few weeks later."

He told the court it was an idiotic thing to do and that he regretted his actions.

Councillor Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Waste, said the authority adopts a zero tolerance policy on fly-tippers across the Wiltshire Council area.

Earlier this year, a Melksham man was fined more than £1,200 for fly-tipping after a Ministry of Defence helicopter caught him burning waste. 

Corey Ross Carr was been successfully prosecuted for environmental and trading standards offences while operating a waste clearance service on Facebook selling sites across Wiltshire.

Cllr McClelland added: “Quite rightly this person [Mr Hillier] was convicted for his actions which were illegal and completely unacceptable. Not only was he content to fly-tip his waste once, but he also thought it was acceptable to dump further waste in our rural county.

“We have set out our commitment in our business plan to pursue further fly-tipping prosecutions, and we are investing in more technology and more resources to step up our fight against the scourge of fly-tipping.”

Mr Hillier's guilty plea was taken into account when the sentence was imposed. 

To find out more about how people can report fly-tipping, people should go to: wiltshire.gov.uk/community-environment-wtf.