War on flytippers is getting results (From thisisoxfordshire)

War on flytippers is getting results

10:30am Thursday 24th November 2011 in News By Rhianne Pope

War on flytippers is getting results

Flytipping around Oxford has dropped by three-quarters thanks to harsher measures and more CCTV, experts say.

Incidents in the city dropped from 3,566 in 2007/08 to just 820 in 2010/11.

There were 284 cases from April to September this year.

There were similar drops at councils around Oxfordshire, who are all spending less on flytipping than four years ago.

Oxfordshire Waste Partnership spokesman Paul Mocroft said: “This is great news for Oxfordshire. The amount of flytipping has gone down year-on-year since 2007.

“It’s a combination of factors. CCTV cameras, hidden or not, have proved very successful.

“And there have been a number of high-profile prosecutions, showing we are not afraid to take people to court if they are doing wrong.”

He added: “It is still a problem that people are flytipping at all, but this shows we are doing something about it.”

Oxford City Council said a £15,000 spy camera in Oxford has proved successful in catching flytippers red-handed.

The futuristic-looking device was unveiled in February last year to be stationed at hotspots blighted by dumped rubbish but earlier this year the Oxford Mail revealed it had only been used once due to technical problems.

But nine months later, public health team leader Graham Eagle said the camera had been a “high deterrent”.

He said: “The CCTV camera has been deployed at various sites across the city, predominately on housing land, where we know people have flytipped in the past.

“The camera is overt so signs are in place to remind people that CCTV is in operation, which means it does prove to be a high deterrent.”

The portable camera has spent the last two weeks at the Oxford Retail Park in Ambassador Way, Cowley.

The park’s recycling area was blighted by flytippers, including an incident in September 2010 when six dirty mattresses were left with dozens of bin bags.

Blackbird Leys parish council chairman Gordon Roper said: “It used to be an absolute disgrace, it was less of a recycling place and more of a dumping ground.

“I campaigned for something to be done about it for two years because you’d have old mattresses, people emptying their sheds and all sorts.”

Similar cameras are in operation in Didcot and Witney.

In Oxford, clearance costs have dropped from £149,916 to just £28,463 in three years. The number of flytipping cases countywide dropped from 6,276 to 2,821.