West Oxfordshire faced a record level of fly-tipping last year, new figures reveal.

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy said the high level of fly-tipping seen across England is a "tragedy" to the environment and to communities.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs figures reveal there were 1,524 fly-tipping incidents in the year to March 2022 – up from 1,188 the year before and the highest figure since records began in 2012-13.

A significant amount of fly-tipping in the area last year was discovered on highways (43%).

Of the discarded waste, the largest proportion was waste from an unidentified source (45%) followed by household waste (25%).

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The data also shows £35,500 was paid by councils on removing large incidents of fly-tipping in West Oxfordshire.

The Defra figures show about 91,000 fixed penalty notices were issued across England in 2021-22, an increase of 58% from 2020-21.

And the number of court fines nearly tripled from just 621 in 2021-21 to 1,798 last year.

Yet in West Oxfordshire, just eight fixed penalty notices were issued last year, down from nine in 2020-21.

A council spokesperson said: “We respond quickly to any incident of fly-tipping to ensure it’s removed as soon as possible to protect our natural habitat for communities and wildlife to enjoy.

"It’s a sad fact that we see too many incidents of fly-tipping in our district, costing time and money to remove.

"WODC has increased its resources to investigate fly-tipping, and there are plans to introduce technology to assist us in the identification and prosecution of fly-tippers.”

 

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