Fly-tipping figures 'inaccurate'

Defra says a third of rubbish is dumped on London's highways

A council which logged the highest rate of fly-tipping in London over the past year has described government figures as "inaccurate and misleading".

Defra revealed Wandsworth council had recorded 158,076 cases of fly-tipping and that it had spent £3.7m on the problem - more than any other borough.

But the local authority said there was a discrepancy among councils as to what was counted as fly-tipping.

Defra said the figures showed progress with more reporting and enforcement.

Honesty

A spokeswoman for Defra said the statistics also showed that Wandsworth had secured 18 successful prosecutions for the offence.

Overall the figures showed fly-tipping had increased in London by 22% between April 2006 and March 2007.

There were at least 588,432 incidents recorded - which cost £19.5m to deal with - second to North West England where 1.4m incidents were logged.

Most other councils appear to be counting traditional fly-tips like old beds and mattresses that have been dumped in the streets Wandsworth council

A Wandsworth council spokesman said: "This just shows how misleading and inaccurate a picture 'official statistics' can give you."

He went on to say the figures included plastic bags left on the street and refuse sacks put out too early for collection.

"Most other councils appear to be counting traditional fly-tips like old beds and mattresses that have been dumped in the streets.

"If we did the same then our figures would only be about 4,600 each year," he said.

He added that the amount the council had spent on clearing fly-tipping was closer to £200,000.

The council called on the government to appoint an independent body to collate the figures to give a true picture of the problem.