FLY-TIPPERS who have dumped rubbish illegally in Swindon’s streets, parks and woods hundreds of times over the past year are in the council’s sights.

A crackdown on the crime, which has seen both urban and more rural areas of the town blighted by deliberately discarded trash, is now under way.

Maureen Penny, cabinet member for highways and the environment at Swindon Borough Council said: “The message to fly-tippers is: we are after you. And we are after you in a big way.”

Coun Penny told members of the authority’s scrutiny committee that while there were to be extra efforts on tipping, she didn’t want to go into detail.

She said: “We have to keep exactly what we’re going to do a bit quiet, because fly-tippers are aware, and there seems to be a network of them who know what they’re doing and what they want to do – but we are coming after them.”

Last year the council received 1,726 reports of fly-tipping from members of the public. But it has had difficultly in identifying and then prosecuting the people responsible – often tipping is done out of sight, or at night, making it hard to get the evidence needed for a criminal prosecution.

But the council says its envirocrime team has been able to identify some suspected offenders and to get tipped items cleared up by residents, resulting in rubbish being removed without the need for a prosecution.

That also saves the council money as it doesn’t incur the costs of a prosecution.

But now, in announcing its new efforts – including hiring new waste wardens – the council says it will be targetting known hotspots.

Coun Penny added: “We respond to all incidents of fly-tipping that are reported to us, but in order to prosecute we need to have the appropriate evidence.

“It is notoriously difficult to prosecute people for fly-tipping because it can be very hard to identify those responsible, which is also the case when seeking to issue cautions and fixed penalty notices.

“But it is important that people know that this year we will be making extra efforts to tackle fly-tipping and prosecuting the offenders where we can.”

One of the issues, according to the councillor and her officers, is that putting up a camera in one street or area just drives tippers to the next area along, and not every street or area is suitable for cameras.

Special efforts are being made to prevent dumping illegally in Broad Green, where a network of back alleys is often used by dumpers.

Council officer Steve Jorden told the meeting: “We are working with residents in the Broad Green area, including sending letters on the council’s bulky household waste collection service.

“It’s a complex problem, and often outsiders come in and fly-tip. Others are from the area, and the back streets make it easier to do. We are looking to at gating some back alleys to prevent dumping and we’re discussing it with representatives of the area.”

Chairman of the scrutiny committee, Bob Wright, represents Broad Green as one of the councillors for Central ward.

He said: “Many individuals in the area don’t have cars, they are encouraged not to have cars. We have put the price of bulky waste collection up by five per cent – if we put the price up on items put out for collection, then people will look at the costs of that.

He added: “ We are having a new camera, and we’ll see if we can roll it out because it reduces the costs of tipping collection We are looking at the shortest section of smallest alley way to block off as a preventative measure."

“I agree with what others have said, if you’re driving through an area, or into town, it doesn’t give a good impression.”

To report incidents of fly tipping, visit https://bit.ly/2nvzaE3.

If residents have household waste which cannot be appropriately disposed of through the normal local authority waste collection service, they can check if the Household Waste and Recycling Centre at Cheney Manor Industrial Estate accepts the waste and take it there themselves.

They can also use the Council’s bulky waste collection service or a private business that provides a waste collection service.