BRADFORD Council is hoping to step up its war on fly tippers by purchasing a fleet of cameras to catch people in the act.

A new push to tackle the crime could see the Council buy fifteen new mobile cameras that are able to capture the registration numbers of vehicles involved in fly tipping.

At a meeting of the full Council next Tuesday, members will be asked to back a £100,000 a year scheme that will also see areas that are blighted by fly tipping blocked off to traffic by the installation of bunds, fences or “bouldering.”

The Council is also looking to step up enforcement activity against private land owners and landlords who allow their property to become fly tipping hot spots.

A motion going before the meeting says 80 per cent of fly tipping prosecutions involved camera footage, and so it is important to enhance the authority’s current arsenal.

Figures released last year revealed that over 45 reports of fly-tipping were made each day in Bradford in the 2018/19 financial year.

Man fined after truck was used to dump waste on Norbury Road

The statistics showed that Bradford Council was left having to deal with a total of 16,584 reported incidents in the 12 months.

Since April 2016, the Council has been involved in 93 prosecutions, including issuing formal cautions, for waste offences including fly-tipping.

The authority has also issued 72 Fixed Penalty Notices of £400 for fly-tipping offences and has seized three vans.

In November Paul Lucas, 47 of Walden Drive, was fined over £850 after hidden cameras recorded three men using Lucas’ tipper truck to dump waste on Norbury Road, Ravenscliffe.

Last year a report by the waste service to the Council’s Area Committees said cameras were vital in catching fly tippers, but said they had “finite resources.”

The new motion, put forward by the Council’s Labour Group, calls for the £100,000 a year investment to fund new cameras as well as

- Using bunding, fencing, bouldering to defend sites which are regularly fly-tipped to prevent further incidents

- Raise awareness and work with more private landowners and with communities to promote responsible waste management practices

- Look at how the Council can step up enforcement activity against private land owners and landlords who don’t act responsibly in safeguarding their property from becoming a fly-tipping hotspot.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “We will not tolerate people dumping rubbish and blighting our landscapes.

“Fly-tipping is never acceptable, it is selfish, it’s harmful to the environment and it is costing taxpayers in England more than £57 million a year to clear up – money that could be spent on vital public services.

“We have pursued many successful prosecutions and we will continue with this fight with the help of new cameras and new measures that we want to bring in to help protect sites.

“We are sending out the message that the law will catch up with you if you do not play by the rules.”

The Council meets in City Hall at 4pm next Tuesday.