ROGUE flytippers are to be slapped with £400 on-the-spot fines thanks to new powers approved by Thurrock Council last week.

Thurrock businesses are also due for a shock after the council announced a £300 penalty for businesses that can’t produce waste transfer notes from the date the business started trading.

The new enforcement action taken by the council will see businesses with a backlog of waste disposal going back years being chased for punitive costs.

New portfolio holder for the environment, Councillor Pauline Tolson said it was a “fool-proof ” plan to stop the scourge of flytipping in the borough following Council Leader Rob Gledhill’s first commitment as leader to ‘Clean it, cut it, fill it.’

Councillor Gledhill also promised £20,000 worth of council funds would be devoted to enforcement, with new CCTV cameras and enforcement officers on the way.

But Thurrock Chamber of Commerce warned the move could be “dangerous” to small businesses, if they found debts piling up and were unable to find the funds to meet the historic backlog.

David Burch, of Thurrock Chamber of Commerce, called it a “strange” move. He said: “I think a lot of businesses could grumble about this – they have to pay for refuse collection anyway. It’s not something you get in return for paying business rates. Anything that makes work more expensive could have an adverse affect.”

Terri Anderson, manager at West Thurrock waste management company Ahern, said: “I think small businesses are going to struggle with this and it feels very reactive rather than proactive.

“More work needs to be done with educating small businesses about the impact before they get into gear.”

Residents also held mixed views.

Chair of Thurrock Park Residents’ Association Tony Coughlin said the plan was “overdue” but would also need CCTV at flytipping hotspots and more enforcement officers to be effective.

Mr Coughlin, 57, of Sedge Court, said: “It should have been brought in ages ago but I do think it’s a good idea.”

Gavin Beyer, 41, of Swiftsure Road in Chafford Hundred, said: “It’s a good start. A problem we have had for three years was dealt with quite quickly after this new administration came in.”

The crackdown on littering and fly-tipping was agreed at the July 13 Thurrock Council Cabinet.