COSTS to taxpayers of dealing with fly-tipping have risen by 60 per cent in a year – with council figures showing about 18 incidents per day in Coventry.
Opposition councillors have hit out at those dumping rubbish in city streets and have called for more action to be taken.
Cases have soared from 2,316 in 2015/16 to 6,922 in 2018/19.
And in the last calendar year, the costs associated with the problem have increased from £162,093 to £265,215.
The council has taken a hard-line approach, increasing patrols and introducing an online reporting system.
Council enforcement actions, which cost money as well as cleaning up mess, have also more than doubled from 1,611 in 2015/16 to 3,925 in 2018/19.
Leader of the council’s opposition Conservative group, Gary Ridley, told us: “Fly tipping is a growing anti social menace which can really make life miserable if it’s happening near your home.
“With our year as City of Culture getting closer it’s vital that we create a good impression on visitors too.
“Let me be clear, the blame for this lies squarely with the perpetrators and not on the council but I do believe we could be doing more.
“We set out how we could give our team an extra £100,000 a year at the budget setting meeting but this failing Labour administration blocked our proposal.
“They must now explain what they intend to do about fly tipping because this just can’t go on.”
A Coventry City Council spokesperson said: “Council officers from the street enforcement team operate seven days per week from 9am to 3am the following day.
“We have an extra mobile team in place that can respond rapidly to incidents and quickly compile evidence of fly-tipping.
“Experience has taught us that before rubbish is fly tipped it migrates first into people’s gardens before ending up on public land.
“We dealt with over 2,000 such cases, which resulted in the serving of 627 notices up from 263 in the previous year.
“Fly-tipping is an offence and the fly-tipping of controlled waste is a serious criminal offence which carries a fine of up to £50,000 (unlimited if dealt with at Crown Court) or an offender may face a prison sentence.
“To secure a conviction we need good evidence and nothing beats good local intelligence.
“We would encourage our residents to be vigilant and anyone who witnesses fly-tipping should please report it to the council.”
To report fly tipping go to www.coventry.gov.uk/reportflytipping or call 08085 834333.
