William Blake's "green and pleasant land" is under siege from fly-tipping on a mass scale. This is not just litter blotting the landscape, this is organised crime; tonnes of household and commercial waste dumped which can often be hazardous - even including asbestos and chemicals - endangering farmers, wildlife, livestock, crops and the environment.
The latest figures from Defra show that there were more than one million flytipping incidents recorded on public land in England last year, bringing the total to five million cases in five years. But huge numbers of incidents occur on privately-owned land, painting an even more damaging picture of the financial burden and environmental impact flytipping brings.
Farmers and landowners are responsible for removing fly-tipped rubbish. The CLA estimates that our members pay on average £1,000 to remove waste. This is not a victimless crime - in some cases they have paid up to £100,000 to clear up other people's mess or risk facing prosecution themselves, a fundamental injustice.
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How to Buy a Smallholding in France- Long-time smallholder Lorraine Turnbull looks at the practicalities of moving to rural France
Aspiring smallholders are continually thwarted by the prices of smallholdings and property with land located within the UK. Even the humblest croft in Scotland comes with a substantial price tag and conditions which would make even an adventurous wannabee consider carefully. But all is not lost. For those willing to take the adventure of a lifetime, there is always Europe, and one of the most popular places is France.
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