Fly-tipping Mountain costing Cardiff over £1 million a year

4.36.41pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 20th Jun 2007

Cathays resident Ceri Jones and Jenny Randerson are appalled by the amount of fly-tipping in lanes and open spaces, which costs the Cardiff taxpayer over £1 million

Fly-tipping is ruining many parts of Cardiff and costing tax payers over £1 million to clear up according to evidence obtained by the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

Jenny Randerson, the Welsh Assembly Member for Cardiff Central, has had figures from the Welsh Assembly Research Service that reveals that there were 21,792 tipping incidents in Cardiff, costing just over £1m to remove in the last financial year. Whilst the total cost across Wales is £2.9 million.

Commenting on these figures, Jenny Randerson said, "Fly tipping creates misery and can blight communities. It is an anti-social activity that undermines community life, can attract vermin and costs taxpayers huge amounts of money each year to put right."

"Cardiff Council has done a lot of work trying to promote the free collection of bulky waste and building more household waste centres, in order to make it easier for residents to dispose of their waste. On the enforcement side, the Liberal Democrat controlled council has invested in more street sweepers and enforcement officers to help catch fly-tippers."

"Fly-tipping affects all of us and the individuals who do it are vandalising our communities. If we are all vigilant and report fly-tipping as soon as it happens, then we might be able to catch these criminals in the act and prosecute them."