New figures have shown that fly-tipped waste was discovered thousands of times in Bury in the space of a year.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) figures reveal there were 3,323 fly-tipping incidents in Bury in the year to March 2022- up from 3,308 the year before.

A significant amount of fly-tipping was discovered in places such as back alleyways which had 38 per cent and highways which had 28 per cent.

Of this waste, the largest proportion was household black bin bags (26 per cent) followed by waste from an unidentified source (25 per cent).

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Defra data also show that £82,991 was paid by councils on removing large incidents of fly-tipping in Bury.

The environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy said this high level of fly-tipping is a "tragedy" to the environment and to communities.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “A million plus fly-tipping incidents is a tragedy for the environment and communities and illustrates just how little people understand about the impact their unwanted ‘stuff’ can have.

“We need immediate and tough enforcement that targets the rogue traders who are making a fortune by breaking the law, raking in the cash and wrecking our environment.”

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Around 91,000 fixed penalty notices were issued across England in 2021/22 which was a 58 per cent increase from 2020/21.

The number of court fines almost tripled from just 621 in 2021/21 to 1,798 last year.

The value of all fines was £840,000 in 2021/22, more than doubling the £330,000 from the year before.

In Bury, 51 fixed penalty notices were issued last year, up from none in 2020/21.

In response to the figures, a council spokesperson said: “Fly-tipping and littering is disgraceful.

"It blights our neighbourhoods, and costs local taxpayers money to clear it up.

“We know how much this matters to residents, which is why we have increased our enforcement action against the perpetrators.

“In the last 18 months, we have issued 36 fines for littering and 50 fines for fly tipping, and seven offenders were prosecuted through the courts.

“If residents witness incidents of fly tipping, or have any information about who is doing this, we would urge them to contact us with all the details they have so that we can take action.”

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David Renard, environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said fly-tipping is not just an eyesore for residents, but a serious environmental and public health risk.

He said: “Councils are working tirelessly to counter the thousands of incidents every year and are determined to crack down on the problem, so it is good to see that the number of enforcement actions has increased.

“However, penalties handed down from prosecution fail to match the severity of the offence committed.

“We continue to urge the government to review sentencing guidelines for fly-tipping so that offenders are given bigger fines for more serious offences to act as a deterrent.”

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