Dudley councillor calls for CCTV in fly-tipping hot spots

Speaking at a recent Dudley Council meeting, Labour councillor Mohammed Hanif, who represents the Lye ward, expressed an urgent need for cameras.

He also expressed his disappointment to hear that the refurbishment of the CCTV control room, at Parsons Street, was not near completion, having been announced two years ago.

Councillor Hanif said: "I receive daily calls and emails from the local community and traders in Lye, complaining of fly-tipping and other rubbish being dumped on their doorstep.

"They are fed up and angry with putting up with rubbish either ferried in or just dumped by many of the properties above the shops in the town, whether its sofas, mattresses or bagged up rubbish it's simply dumped on the pavements in the High Street, adjoining streets and not forgetting the car parks, knowing well that the street cleansing team will remove it.

"It is now actually become beyond a joke in the area, is creating tensions and leading to shoppers staying away."

Councillor Hanif also said that statistics show that since January this year until the present time, more than 75 incidents of fly-tipping and 26 requests for other related services have been reported. The costs incurred to the council, he says, have been in excess of £10,000.

Crucial

Councillor Hanif added: "This is a needless waste of taxpayers money and could be avoided with a proper deterrent in place."

In response, Councillor Karen Shakespeare, Dudley Council's cabinet member for environment, highways and street services, said catching people who fly-tip is "crucial".

The cabinet member for community safety, Councillor Laura Taylor, said that the authority is looking at installing cameras along Lye's High Street.

Councillor Shakespeare said: "Fly-tipping is not only illegal, it leaves hard-working taxpayers out of pocket because we have to clean other people’s rubbish up. Catching these people is crucial so that we can prosecute them.

"In the meantime, people can report incidents such as fly-tipping to us in a range of ways by calling 0300 555 2345 or email dudleycouncilplus@dudley.gov.uk. People can also report via social media or our smartphone app.”

Councillor Taylor said: "We are currently replacing all of our CCTV cameras as part of a £1.7 million investment following a major review last year.

"As part of that review Lye is on a programme of work to look at the potential for installing cameras along the High Street with new state of the art units.

"Alongside that, we will soon have deployable CCTV cameras to target hotspot areas and we are working on the details of that at the moment.”