A NEW weapon is being readied to battle the scourge of illegal dumping across the district.

The number of flytipping reports has risen for the fourth year in a row and from this Saturday, Bradford Council will have new powers to hit those responsible with fines of up to £400.

The latest figures show there were 11,417 reports of flytipping across the district in 2015/16, which is 80 per cent higher than the levels seen three years before.

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Councillor Sarah Ferriby, the council’s executive member responsible for environmental issues, said: “Ultimately, flytipping is a blight for everyone and it is not right that the residents of the district pay for the thoughtless actions of others.”

The Government has given all local authorities the new powers to hand out the fixed penalties - a move Cllr Ferriby welcomed.

She said: “I think it will be a strong deterrent.”

She said the fixed penalties would only be given to small-scale flytippers, with larger-scale culprits still pursued through the courts.

The penalties will fine people £400, or £300 if paid quickly, and any money raised will be spent on environmental improvements in the district.

Cllr Ferriby said some people found themselves guilty of flytipping “through ignorance”, by not checking how tradespeople were disposing of waste taken from their home.

But she said others knew perfectly well what they were doing.

She said: “If you go down a country lane and throw a fridge out on the roadside, you know that isn’t the right thing to do.”

Cllr Ferriby also urged people to report any flytipping they spotted, especially noting down details of any culprits.

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The opposition Conservative group has also welcomed the new powers.

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, its environment spokesman, said increased enforcement was the only way to tackle flytippers.

She said: “It’s just not fair on everybody who pays their council tax. It upsets me and makes me quite angry.”

Cllr Poulsen said much of the problem centred around unscrupulous traders who offered to get rid of people’s waste for a fee, then simply dumped it.

But she also accused the Labour-led authority of putting more and more barriers in the way of residents who had rubbish to dispose of.

Cllr Poulsen said the requirement for a permit to visit a tip, new charges to have a garden waste bin and soon-to-be introduced fortnightly bin collections were all sending out the wrong message.

She said: “People who forget their permit will get turned away and some of those people will flytip.”

Cllr Ferriby refuted any claim the council made it difficult for people to act responsibly, saying any resident could get a tip permit and there were also bulky waste collections people could make use of.

Flytipping cost council taxpayers £289,000 in 2015/16, according to the new figures.

One place hit by flytippers multiple times in recent weeks is Filey Street in central Bradford.

Passer-by Harry Lingard said a load of tyres and wheels had appeared on Wednesday, while a pile of building rubble had been there for weeks.

He said: “On September 7, in the afternoon I came past and there were a lot of council vans there.

“I thought, good, they’re clearing it up, but they just shoved it to the side of the road and drove off and left it.

“It’s as if they are saying this is a place where flytipping is acceptable.”

Mr Lingard, of Oxenhope, said he had seen plenty of flytipping sites across the district and used to report it but has now given up out of frustration.

He said: "It is just really poor for the image of Bradford."

A council spokesman said: “In the last few weeks the council has responded to and cleared a number of fly-tipping incidents around the Filey Street area.

“The Environmental Enforcement Team is also investigating the matter and is following up on some leads to discover who is responsible and prosecute them.”

He said the street had now been cleared.

He added that it was possible that a passing council team could have moved the rubble out of the road for safety reasons before another crew was sent with the right equipment to clear it up.

People can report flytipping via the council website, bradford.gov.uk, or by calling 01274 431000.