Councillors have requested a report on why fly-tipping complaints have dramatically increased in Bradford since 2010.

Members of Bradford Council’s environment and waste management overview and scrutiny committee agreed last night that the problem needed to be discussed.

It came after the Telegraph & Argus revealed on Monday that fly-tipping complaints had increased by nearly a quarter since a controversial permit system came into force this year.

From January 1 to June 30, Bradford Council received 2,725 complaints, an average of 105 per week. But in the three months since the permit was introduced, from July 1 to September 30, 1,690 complaints were received by the Council, an average of 130 com-plaints per week – an increase of 23.8 per cent. Figures also revealed that complaints rose by more than 17 per cent in the previous two years.

Shipley Councillor Martin Love (Green), chairman of the scrutiny committee, said last night: “Forget the permit change, it was increased by 17 per cent in two years. It was on the way up anyway.”

The committee members agreed that a report on the matter was needed and asked that it be presented to the committee in January. Coun Love previously warned against “knee-jerk reactions” and blaming the problem on permits being introduced, without hard evidence.

Since June, locals have had to prove they are Bradford Council Taxpayers by showing a residents’ permit before they can dump rubbish at waste recycling plants.

The permit scheme, brought in by the Labour-run authority, was labelled as “hare-brained” and “costly control-freakery” by other political group leaders at the time.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, the Liberal Democrat group leader, said in Monday’s T&A that the “permits encourage fly-tipping because people think they cannot go because they haven’t got the permit”.

Meanwhile, the scrutiny committee also heard about the Council’s struggle to get answers from Defra on their reasons for pulling the plug on credit funding for a £300 million waste treatment plant on Bowling Back Lane.

Shahid Nazir, project director for the Bradford and Calderdale Waste Treatment PFI Project, said a judicial review into Defra’s decision was scheduled for January.

Coun Andrew Thornton, portfolio holder for environment, sport and sustainability, slammed Defra for not responding to the Council’s enquiries, adding: “We think Defra should give a public answer as to why they have come to the conclusion they have.”