Worst fly-tipping spots in Walsall revealed

Hobs Hole Lane in Aldridge, Crook Lane and Doe Bank Lane, both in Barr Beacon, and Prince Street and Spout Lane in Caldmore have all notched up 20 or more illegal dumpings in the last year.

Environmental chiefs in Walsall are now about to trial head-mounted cameras in a bid to catch offenders red-handed and provide video evidence for courts.

Keith Stone, Walsall's assistant director of neighbourhood services, said fly-tipping had cost the council £140,000 in the past 12 months.

"This is money we would rather spend on providing other services but we accept our responsibility in trying to catch these people," he said.

The authority now has two cameras on a month's trial which will be targeted by their wearers on the borough's dumping hotspots.

Walsall already has five on-site cameras situated in favourite fly-tipping areas but these were fixed in position and had not always captured culprits in acti

The head-mounted cameras would be better placed to record wrongdoing, said Dave Elrington, the borough's environmental health manager.

"They will help in identifying offenders who often try to deny involvement, then it's one man's word against another. Now we can simply invite them in to have a look at the footage. It will save a lot of time for us and the courts." Van drivers are top of the council's fly-tipping hit list. Of the 2,000 incidents of waste dumping last year, between 1,300 and 1,400 were small van loads. Around 400 of these, were carried out by larger transit vans.

The council believes a significant number to have been carried out by small businesses trying to reduce their costs by avoiding paying for disposal.

Officers report many are also carried out by tatters and other unlicensed businesses who go door-to-door offering to get rid of household rubbish.

Mr Stone said: "It's tempting to take up an offer of £20 to take away your rubbish but it's illegal and people have a duty of care to check that they are dealing with legal operators, otherwise they could end up in court."

Witnesses

The cameras are among a number of measures launched by Walsall Council to avoid illegal tipping. Skip days have proved a popular with the public and have also provided the council with an opportunity to get its message across.

Mr Elrington appealed to householders to report illegal tippers.

"We are asking residents to be our eyes and ears. In the last couple of years we've seen more people prepared to go to court to act as witnesses to fly-tipping offences and we would urge others to follow their example."

He said Street Pride, the council's refuse collection department, had been instrumental in the authority's success.