Government figures show Bassetlaw is hit by five fly-tipping incidents every day

The DEFRA data has revealed the scale of the issue facing councils across the country, with almost one million incidents recorded in England in 2017-18.

In West Lindsey, there were 1.803 fly-tipping incidents in the 12 months to March .

This was an increase of 101 per cent from five years ago, when there were 897.

Across England, fly-tipping increased by 40 per cent over the same period.

Tipping incidents in Bassetlaw most commonly involved volumes of waste that were the equivalent of a small van load.

However, the area is also seeing increasing numbers of large-scale tips, involving a lorry load of rubbish or more.

The Local Government Association, which represents local authorities, said councils were determined to ‘end the scourge of fly-tipping’.

Coun Martin Tett, environment spokesman for the Local Government Authority, said: “This new analysis shows the scale of the fly-tipping epidemic we face in this country.

“Fly-tipping is unsightly and unacceptable environmental vandalism.

“It’s an absolute disgrace for anyone to think that they can use the environments in which our residents live as a repository for litter.”

The most common type of waste dumped in Bassetlaw was household waste, which accounted for 800 incidents, followed by black bags of household rubbish and white goods such as fridges or washing machines.

The majority of fly-tipping sites - 94 per cent of them - were on roads.

Clearing up the rubbish and taking action against perpetrators is estimated to have cost the council around £125,100 last year.

Councils can take a range of actions against fly-tipping, from sending warning letters to launching prosecutions.

Last year the council took action on 353 occasions, up from 224 in 2012-13.

These included launching 208 investigations, sending out 45 warning letters, issuing 21 penalty notices, and undertaking 64 inspections.

It also carried out eight prosecutions, up from none five years ago.

Of these prosecutions, five resulted in a fine and three in community service..

The fines issued by the courts amounted to £3,584, with a biggest single penalty of more than £1,000.

Coun Tett continued: “Councils are determined to protect local environments.

“New fixed penalty notice powers from the Government will help but every single conviction for more serious fly-tipping offences still results in council taxpayers having to pick up the bill.

“We need to make sure that when councils take offenders to court, a faster, more effective legal system ensures that serious fly-tipping offences result in hard-hitting fines.”

Last year, overall fly-tipping incidents in England fell slightly by around one per cent – the first fall for five years.

However, large-scale tips increased by nine per cent over the same period.

Since 2012-13, the number of actions taken by councils has risen by 16 per cent.

A spokesman for Defra said: “The figures show our tough actions to crack down on fly-tippers are delivering results.

“Councils are using powers to hand out on-the-spot fines to fly-tippers to good effect, and we have made it easier for vehicles suspected of being used for fly-tipping to be stopped, searched and seized.

“New fixed penalty notices for householders who pass their waste to a fly-tipper also come into force shortly, as we continue our efforts to crack down on those who blight our landscapes.”