New Government figures showing a decline in fly-tipping incidents are misleading as they do not include cases on privately owned land, according to the NFU's environment advisor.

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On Tuesday, Dr Nicola Dunn, who acts as an advisor to the NFU, said government data "doesn’t include information on incidents on private land that are dealt with by landowners." She suggested a crackdown on fly-tipping on public land may have had "a knock-on effect, appearing as an increase in incidents on private land."

Lobby groups including the CLA and NFU have encouraged local authorities to take a harder line on fly-tipping in the past, and official statistics for England, released Tuesday, show a nine per cent decline in incidences on public land between 2010/11 and 2011/12. However, the NFU said its own research on fly-tipping on private property shows a 64 per cent increase over the same period.

Whilst fly-tipping remains an issue, as it can lead to pollution and remains a nuisance and an eyesore for those living in the country, the NFU wants farmers to be allowed to dispose of fly-tipped waste free of charge at local authority sites, though how this would be made operable remains unclear. Defra therefore said it proposes to leave decision-making on fly-tipping up to local authorities.

Dr Dunn added, "It is extremely disappointing that fly-tipping on private land remains a significant problem for farmers. Until Government acknowledges that action is needed to deal with the problem on all land, we don't believe the problem will be effectively resolved. Farmers are frustrated when they, the victims of a crime, are left to clear up dumped waste and pay the local authority to dispose of it. That’s just not right."