FLY tipping in the North-East countryside is going to get worse, a leading rural business advisor has warned.

Strutt and Parker says that because the cost of disposing of waste at landfill sites is increasing, the temptation to dump waste illegally will also increase.

If this coincides with the adoption of proposals to introduce a household "dustbin tax", then the firm has predicted an even bigger fly tipping problem.

The landfill tax escalator commits the Government to raising waste taxes by £1 per tonne each year for the next ten years.

But in his 2002 Budget, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced plans to increase the tax rate significantly, possibly by as much as £3 per tonne per year from 2005.

Francis Thompson, from Strutt and Parker, said: "The higher the costs, the more fly tipping will take place.

"Fly tipping is not only a dangerous and unsightly nuisance, it can cause considerable inconvenience and cost for farmers.

"The likelihood is that over the next few years, the risk of fly tipping will increase and farmers, particularly those on so-called green lanes, will need to risk-assess their farms and take measures to guard against it."