Fly-tipping spree gives £2m bill

Local authorities spend thousands clearing illegally dumped waste

Fly-tipping cost south and west Wales taxpayers almost £2m in the last financial year, it has been revealed.

Almost 40,000 incidents of the crime were reported in the region between April 2005 and 2006 a Countryside Alliance investigation has shown.

The worst hit area was Cardiff with 14,125 fly tipping incidents at a cost to taxpayers of £662,108.

A Countryside Alliance spokesman said fly tippers were breaking the law and ruining beauty spots.

Other fly-tipping hotspots in south Wales included Caerphilly where 2356 incidents were reported at a cost of £114,461. Carmarthenshire was also hit hard with 791 reports of dumping at a cost of £128,004.

Swansea was second behind Cardiff with 8214 reported incidents of fly-tipping at a cost of £469,483.

Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Simon Hart said the illegal dumping of rubbish was a problem across both urban and rural landscapes.

"Many people believe that fly-tipping is something they can get away with and that the victim is faceless - this is nonsense," he said.

Local Authority / Number of incidents / Cost to taxpayer Cardiff 14,125 £662,108 Torfaen 597 £28,166 Blaenau Gwent 360 £16,235 Bridgend 335 £26,478 Caerphilly 2356 £114,461 Carmarthenshire 791 £128,004 Merthyr Tydfil 646 £39,391 Monmouthshire 802 £39,041 Neath Port Talbot 1174 £90,676 Newport 65 £2,973 Pembrokeshire 614 £33,650 Rhondda Cynon Taff 3544 £181,659 Swansea 8214 £469,483 Glamorgan 2499 £93,345 Ceredigion 428 £19,418 Gwynedd 864 £33,990 Powys 815 £53,063

"If you fly-tip on private land the owner gets the stress of clearing it up and the bill; if you fly-tip on public land the taxpayer gets the bill; and in both instances, as well as breaking the law, you are ruining the beauty of our countryside for everyone."

The Countryside Alliance's national investigation found there were 2.5 million incidents of unlawful rubbish dumping across the UK in the year to April 2006.

This cost local authorities just under £100m but less than one in 100 cases led to a prosecution.

The results of the investigation were published at the beginning of national fly-tipping awareness week as part of the Countryside Alliance's national 'Fly-tipping - Scrap it' campaign.