Filthy fly-tippers make Sheffield one of 20 grottiest places in Britain with 12,000 incidents last year

Sheffield has been named as one of the UK's dirtiest places with 12,000 incidents of fly-tipping last year.
Fly-tipping in Sheffield.Fly-tipping in Sheffield.
Fly-tipping in Sheffield.

A survey has revealed that on average, Sheffield City Council workers deal with 33 cases of illegal dumping each day - making the city among the top 20 worst place in Britain for fly-tipping.

Haringey in London topped the ITV study with 39,036 cases with Leeds and Bradford among the other Yorkshire cities featured in the list.

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Fly-tipping is illegal and offenders can face an unlimited fine and up to five years in jail if convicted at court.

Many councils are dealing with around 50 incidents a day, while others face more than 100 cases daily and councils can spend £50 million a year dealing with the problem.

Allison Ogden-Newton of Keep Britain Tidy said: 'Fly-tipping is an epidemic. It's reached crisis levels and something needs to be done about it.

'Local authorities are overwhelmed with instances of criminal fly-tipping and we need to address this urgently.'

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Last November, it was revealed that Sheffield Council had issued just four penalty charge notice to fly-tippers under tough new laws.

The Government brought in new legislative powers last May which allows councils to hand out fixed penalty notices for small-scale fly-tipping offences.

But since the new law was introduced, figures released by Sheffield Council show it had issued just one fine using the new powers.

Sheffield Council said it issued 18 fines in total for fly-tipping offences under other powers.

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Coun Bryan Lodge, cabinet member for environment at Sheffield Council, said: “We work hard to prevent and clear up fly-tipping and littering in Sheffield.

“Since May 2016 we have issued 18 fines relating to dumped waste, four of those cases were fixed penalty notices under the new government legislation for fly tipping.

“While the new legislation has given local authorities more powers to deal with these incidents, we must still have sufficient evidence of the offence before an FPN can be issued.”