Flytippers cost you £58,730

FLY-TIPPING in Horsedge Street

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OLDHAM Council forked out £58,730 to clear up fly-tipping across the borough last year.

There were 949 reports of fly-tipping made in Oldham during 2015-16.

Council bosses and the Environment Agency have the power to hand out on-the-spot fines of up to £200, but the costs they recover for cleaning up rubbish are comparatively small.

Councillor Barbara Brownridge, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and co-operatives, said: "Fly-tipping is a national issue. It's easy to blame this on changes to the frequency of bin collections, but that simply isn't true.

Problem

"Unfortunately, fly-tipping and the dumping of waste is an age old problem. We are doing our bit to tackle the issue but irresponsible people aren't cleaning up after themselves and are continuing to dump household items.

"It is important to add that since we started our new waste collection arrangements in October, the amount of waste being recycled has gone up from 36.8 per cent to 43.6 per cent."

In an article published in August 2016 the Oldham Chronicle reported how a fly-tipper had been successfully prosecuted for dumping a large amount of waste at Windy Hill radio mast, Saddleworth in September 2015.

Brighton Road in Strinesdale, Kent Street in Hathershaw, Honeywell Lane and Haigh Gutter in Huddersfield Road are all areas which were targeted with the crime in 2016.

The Oldham Chronicle also covered reports of dumped rubbish in Horsedge Street in November 2016 where dirty old clothes, glass bottles and other debris had been left in the main street.

Oldham Council recorded more than 1,200 fly-tipping incidents between 2014-15 costing more than £462,000 in clearance and investigation costs.

Councillor Brownridge said: "It's not the council which is dumping the waste - it's your neighbour or someone coming from outside leaving blight in your area or street.

"Money spent on dealing with fly-tipping could be used on other services."

There were more than 46,000 reports of fly-tipping across Greater Manchester between 2015-16.