'Be our eyes and ears': Call for help to tackle the fly-tipping plaguing Walsall
Residents are being urged to be the “eyes and ears” of Walsall Council to help it catch fly-tippers and save the authority thousands of pounds.
Walsall Council bosses vowed to continue cracking down on offenders blighting the borough, with the latest action being the seizure of a car on September 2 which had been involved in fly-tipping a month earlier.
But they said they could also do with the help of people living in the town to report incidents as they look at ways at saving cash in the face of reducing budgets.
Walsall Council leader Mike Bird presented a report on the authority’s financial performance this year to date and the impact Covid-19 has had on the coffers. And he said the cost of officers clearing up rubbish dumped across the borough can reach up to £1 million a year.
“One thing we are doing very successfully is tackling fly-tipping because that is a big drain on our resources," said Councillor Bird.
“It’s cost us between £750,000-£1 million and that reduces our capacity to do things because it is an overhead we can do without.
“As a result, the four letter word that I like beginning with ‘F’ is ‘fine’. And that’s what we’ll do and the one I don’t like is ‘free’.
“We cannot afford to do services free anymore and some of those services may well be taken out.
“We are also calling upon at every opportunity is help from the public – they are our eyes and ears in fly-tipping.
Tougher message
“The more we get them reporting back to us the less of a scourge fly-tipping will be around the borough which is something we would all love to see.
“There is still the offer of a £500 reward for those people. It will I hope give people that better quality of life.”
Councillor Garry Perry, portfolio holder for community, added: “We are already seeing an impact by having a tougher message around enforcement.
“We managed to seize a vehicle to send that message out loud and clear to somebody that if caught and the vehicle registration number can be traced to an owner, we have and will not hesitate to take that vehicle away and crush it if necessary.
“Don’t dump on Walsall. We’re not going to stand for it any longer.”
And 'clean and green' boss Councillor Oliver Butler said: “We’ve got both of our tips open seven days a week with late night opening two nights a week so there is absolutely no excuse for not taking stuff to the tip.
“If idiots want to drop nine black bags of waste in a car park as opposed to taking it to Fryers Road for free then more fool them. We’ll be after them and will catch them.”
