INCIDENTS of fly-tipping have gone up by nearly a third in five years, according to Swindon Borough Council.

There were 2,483 instances reported last year, a 27 per cent increase on five years ago, costing Swindon taxpayer’s more than £250,000 every year to clear up.

The council received 1,803 reports of fly-tipping from April 2013 to April 2014, which jumped by over 30 per cent in just one year to 2,366 cases in 2014/15.

A council spokesman said: “The highest levels of fly-tipping continue to be in the Central and Eastcott areas of Swindon.

"The Ridgeway is also a common place due to its rural location.

“From January 2018 to April 2018, there were 181 reports of fly-tipping in Central ward and 120 in Eastcott.

"The wards which saw the least amount of fly-tipped waste – again, from January to April – were Priory Vale, Chiseldon and Lawn and St Margaret and South Marston, in which 11, 10 and eight reports were received respectively.

“Our advice to residents is always to check that the person disposing of their waste is a licensed waste carrier, while they should also ensure they obtain a Waste Transfer Note when handing over their refuse.”

But the council said the number of on-the-spot fines, which were introduced in April 2017, was still very low because of the difficulty of catching offenders in the act.

In November the council came under fire from residents in Wichlestowe after fly-tippers repeatedly dumped their waste on Scott Way.

Data from Wiltshire council from April last year to February 2018 shows that half (51 per cent) of all reports related to household waste.

However the size of the fly-tips indicates that most are of a commercial nature, such as a 'man with a van'.

More than half (59 per cent) of tips in February were of a small van size or larger.

Jackie Lay, Wiltshire councillor for Purton, suggested ways in which the public can help tackle the problem through social media.

“There’s a lot of more activity of Facebook and social media and there have been a few videos posted where people have been caught fly tipping from people sat in their cars video people doing it,” she said.

“Perhaps the message is getting through to the general public, it’s not acceptable, the rest of us are keeping an eye open and if we see anything we will report it.

"At the end of the day we all pay with our council taxes to have it cleared up.”