Strategy is praised as fly-tipping drops 50pc

Fly-tippers plaguing the streets and country lanes of South Staffordshire have been targeted by a dedicated action team – leading to a 50 per cent drop in the number of reports over the past four years, new figures revealed today.

The specialist team and hidden cameras were introduced to tackle the problem after the number of incidents soared to 706 in 2007/08.

And council bosses today heralded their success as the latest findings showed in the past year, this had fallen to 336 – saving £20,000 in clean-up costs.

In 2007/08, it cost the council £47,842 to clear up dumped rubbish – whereas in the past year it cost just £29,138.

Environment chief at South Staffordshire Council, Councillor Roger Lees, said the council had successfully prosecuted 10 people in the past year, raking in a total of £13,000 in court costs, fines and fixed penalty notices.

"I think these figures show that the tide is turning against fly-tippers," he said.

"We're taking a tough stance against people who dump rubbish because it's not fair that local tax payers should have to pay to clean up the mess of a selfish minority. It looks like our message is getting through.

"Every penny of taxpayers' money we spend clearing this stuff is too much – it's money we could be spent on other services."

He said as part of the authority's "active enforcement" policy, the action team worked with Staffordshire Police stop and search people spotted carrying waste, and fining anyone doing so without a waste carriers licence.

Hidden cameras have been used and got their first major success with the capture of Kingswinford man Fred Price, who was filmed unloading scrap car parts, largely old bumpers, from a van parked directly beneath the secret camera in Coppice Mill Road, Himley, near the Crooked House pub.

Price, then aged 26, of Oak Lane, Kingswinford, was sentenced to a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, at Cannock Magistrates Court in December 2010.