INCIDENTS of fly-tipping reported by Bradford Council have increased by more than 17 per cent in a 12 month period, Government figures have revealed.

There were 10,439 incidents of fly-tipping in 2014/15 compared to 8,867 in 2013/14, according to figures collated by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) from local authority reports.

The worsening situation is highlighted by the fact that there were 6,335 fly-tipping incidents reported by the council to Defra in 2012/13.

And the scale of the problem is demonstrated by our photographs of the latest areas to be blighted by fly-tipping.

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "Fly-tipping is a national problem.

"Incidents of fly-tipping dealt with by local authorities increased by 20 per cent from 2012/13 to 2013/14.

"Fly-tipping is illegal as well as anti-social. That's why we do our best to find evidence to prosecute the criminals who do it.

"Our Environmental Enforcement Team use all possible means of gathering evidence including searching the waste and speaking to any eye witnesses to enable prosecution of perpetrators.

"If rubbish is tipped on council land we clean it up as soon as possible and we try to ensure private land-owners do the same."

Councillor Imran Ahmed Khan (Lab, Bowling and Barkerend), Bradford Council's portfolio holder for environment, sport and sustainability, said the local authority has a number of cases to take enforcement action against those who have been caught dumping rubbish.

He said: "It's very frustrating and annoying that it happens.

"Fly-tipping adds to the costs for the council and adds to council tax.

"I really don't understand what possesses people to do it.

"Everybody plays their part in this. People have got to be vigilant.

"If anybody sees people fly-tipping they have to report it, make a note of people's registration numbers. The onus is not just on the council.

"Fly-tipping is a big problem nationally. It's not just a Bradford issue. It's no worse than anywhere else.

"We all have an obligation to keep our city's streets clean. It spoils the environment."

Railway tracks across the Bradford district are also a target for fly-tippers, despite a clean-up operation costing £40,000 in which 80 tonnes of household waste was cleared up only three months ago.

Trackside embankments on routes into Bradford Interchange and Bradford Forster Square and Shipley are commonly covered with dumped waste.

Network Rail, which is responsible for the upkeep of railway lines, held a clean-up operation, held over ten nights, in November last year. The clean-up took in the area from Bradford Forster Square Station to Valley Parade and a further two-and-a-half mile stretch to Shipley.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "In November 2015, we spent ten nights on the track between the retail park on Shipley, during which time we cleared 80 tonnes of household waste, one tonne of asbestos, 12 mattresses and eight bath tubs.

"We are aware that the area around Bradford Forster Square station also needs clearing and we are now working to find a suitable time to get access to the area.

"Over the past five years Network Rail has cleaned the area from Bradford Forster Square to the football ground twice, each requiring three shifts to complete the clean-up fully.

"We are also working closely with the local authority to try to reduce such anti-social behaviour."

A developer has completed his own investigation after his vacant piece of land in Frizinghall was used as a dumping ground.

The former car park of the Black Swan pub, at the junction of Frizinghall Road and Rydal Avenue, has been targeted by fly-tippers.

Items including two mattresses, wooden carpet gripper rods with nails sticking out and wooden curtain poles were left at the site last Saturday.

Quasam Khan, 42, of Heaton, has received planning permission to build four, three-bedroom homes and two bungalows on the land.

He said: "We have had to sift through the rubbish to find an address of where it came from.

"We know who the culprits are and we're trying to get the council to do something about it. We have had to do our own investigation.

"We are doing what the council should be doing, they should be sorting this out.

"We are as frustrated with it as the residents. We are not going to move it.

"It's the cost for us, the land will be getting developed on.

"We have had the site since last year and we had to get some asbestos removed from it."

Actions over fly-tipping which can be taken by local authorities can include investigations, warning letters, statutory notices, fixed penalty notices, prosecutions and injunctions.

In 2014/15 Bradford Council carried out a total of 4,341 actions, compared with 3,298 in 2013/14 and 3,574 in 2013/12.

Last week, a former restaurant boss was ordered to pay almost £5,000 in fines and costs after he was successfully prosecuted by the council for dumping business waste next to a Bradford road.

Mohammed Nadeem, 39, of North Street, Lockwood, Huddersfield, admitted illegally tipping drink cans and packaging in the Birksland Street/Mount Street area off Leeds Road.

Nadeem used a Vauxhall Vivaro van to dump a large quantity of waste in the early hours of August 11 last year.

He returned twice to drop off more waste, Bradford and Keighley magistrates were told.

Council investigators tracked Nadeem down through the van's registration plate.

In interview, he told the council that he had previously been involved as a director of Diner 900, a restaurant in Leeds Road where the rubbish came from.

In court, Nadeem, who was not represented, said the business had been plagued by illegal dumping which he had paid to have removed.

Last month, Jody Newall, 25, of Sunny Bank Road, Odsal, appeared before Calderdale magistrates in Halifax and was given a two-month curfew order from 7pm to 7am, ordered to pay costs of £250 and a victim surcharge of £60 for dumping a boiler flue, a bag of radiator valves, cardboard packaging, broken furniture and several black domestic sacks in Siddal, Halifax.

Anyone with any information about fly-tippers can call the council's Environmental Enforcement team on 01274 434366, or email eh.admin@bradford.gov.uk.