FLY-TIPPERS landed local taxpayers in the region with an estimated £2.8m bill last year to clean up the waste they left behind, The Northern Echo can reveal.

But since the figure, obtained from Defra, is based only on councils’ average clean up costs the actual bill is likely to be even higher.

Councils in the North-East and North Yorkshire logged 49,220 fly-tipping incidents in 2013/14 – equivalent to 134 every day across the region.

Sunderland City Council was the worst affected area with 10,666 incidents, costing the council an estimated £605,770 to clean up, followed by the region’s biggest local authority Durham County Council, which had 9,004 incidents of fly tipping.

The cost of this was estimated at more than half-a-million pounds (£505,647). This included 259 reports of dumped tyres and 43 incidents involving potentially deadly asbestos.

There have been calls for greater financial support to be provided to town halls to help with clean up costs and only recently a report by MPs suggested tobacco taxes be used to pay for this, along with greater powers to issue fixed penalty notices.

In January alone Durham County Council investigated 596 fly-tipping incidents, as part of its multi-agency Operation Stop It campaign.

It is deploying CCTV cameras in known hotspots across the county and hopes to stamp out fly-tipping which while unsightly can also, more seriously, pose a health hazard.

Ian Hoult, neighbourhood protection manager at Durham County Council, said: “We work closely with Durham Constabulary, Crimestoppers and the Environment Agency to investigate every report of fly-tipping and to determine whether the waste can be traced back to the owner.

“While education is always the first step, when it comes to environmental offences like fly-tipping our message is clear – we will not tolerate it.”

John Herdman, a Streetscene enforcement team supervisor with Darlington Borough Council, which reported 2,914 incidents in 2013-14 including 83 involving tyres and 67 involving asbestos, added: “The council will always prosecute individuals who fly-tip where there is evidence. Those convicted receive fines, community service and potentially a criminal record.”

One high-profile case this year involved Robert Carver, a waste collector operating under the name Steptoe and Son, who dumped wardrobes, a carpet, Christmas decorations and a chest of drawers, among other household items, in New Lane, Heighington.

He was traced by enquiries by Police and Community Support officers in the area and was fined £185 by magistrates in Darlington after admitting depositing waste without an environmental permit. This was less than the £277 it would have cost him to dispose of the rubbish legally.

The gradual use of wheelie bins by local authorities, replacing the old black bag system and limiting the amount of waste householders can put out for collection, is thought to be one reason why smaller fly-tipping incidents are increasing.

In March a report to councillors in Darlington revealed that such incidents had risen from 2,154 in 2012 to 2,882 last year – a 34 per cent increase.

But large-scale illegal dumping of waste – the responsibility of the Environment Agency – is also on the rise as unscrupulous waste operators seek to avoid council charges for disposing of rubbish legally.

No regional figures are available for this category, but nationally in 2013/14 the Agency dealt with 137 incidents, up on 2012/13 figure of 107.

The bulk of these related to the dumping of construction and other types of commercial waste.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: “Those who employ waste management companies need to check they are sending their waste to a legal operator.

“We would urge anyone who has information about large scale illegal dumping to contact our incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.

“All information we receive is logged and is valuable in helping us to build a picture of where, when and how illegal operations are taking place.

“The more evidence we collect, the more successful we are in bringing waste criminals to justice.”

  • Is fly-tipping a blight on your area? Have you alerted officials and nothing has been done? Send us photos from where you live to newsdesk@nne.co.uk or use #echoflytip