A council has issued a warning to fly-tippers after waste was discovered hundreds of times in South Oxfordshire last year.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs figures reveal there were 805 fly-tipping incidents in South Oxfordshire in the year to March 2022 – though this was down from 969 the year before.

But South Oxfordshire District Council is urging people to be vigilant about the crime as fly-tipping continues to blight the area. 

A council spokesman said the authority's Envirocrimes team will investigate any fly-tipping incident if it is reported by a member of the public.

"If the rubbish has been dumped on public land, we will also arrange for it to be removed," he added.

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A significant amount of fly-tipping in the area last year was discovered on highways and on footpaths and bridleways.

Of the discarded waste, the largest proportion was household waste followed by household black bin bags.

The data also shows £2,600 was paid by councils on removing large incidents of fly-tipping in South Oxfordshire.

It comes as environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy said the high level of fly-tipping seen across England is a ‘tragedy’ to the environment and to communities.

Across England, 1.09 million fly-tipping incidents were recorded in 2021-22– a decrease of 4 per cent from the 1.14 million reported in 2020-21.

Oxford Mail: Fly-tipping Fly-tipping

The cost of clearance to local authorities was £10.7 million last year.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy chief executive, 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."

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A total of 20 fixed penalty notices were issued in South Oxfordshire last year.

And two fines were issued by courts in the year to March. The total value of fines was £1,300.

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 David Renard, environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, 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.

A spokesperson for South Oxfordshire District Council said: "If someone sees a fly-tip or witnesses fly-tipping taking place in South Oxfordshire, we would urge them to report it via our website southoxon.gov.uk/flytipping. 

"Our Envirocrimes team will then investigate the incident. If the rubbish has been dumped on public land, we will also arrange for it to be removed." 

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This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Abingdon, Didcot, Wallingford and Wantage.

Get in touch with her by emailing: gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @geeharland