THE SIGHT of piles of rubbish indiscriminately dumped in the countryside or at the roadside sickens most of us.

Flytipping is blighting too many parts of the Bradford district and the problem is only getting worse with official figures showing the number of complaints to the local authority have risen by 80 per cent in the last three years.

But that staggering rise could even be the tip of the iceberg as it is known that many people have simply stopped reporting incidents of illegal dumping they see or come across as they believe no action will be taken.

The clean-up bill to the Council, and don’t forget that’s us as taxpayers, was almost £290,000 in 2015/16.

Now, at last, that situation could change.

From October 1, Bradford Council will acquire new powers with more teeth which will see its officers able to mete out fixed penalties of up to £400 to those caught flytipping.

As the over-riding motive for doing so is to save money rather than disposing of waste through the proper processes, hitting offenders hard in the pocket is hoped to be a real deterrent to those tempted to break the law.

But we all have our part to play to make these new powers as effective as they can be by both reporting acts of illegal dumping and by being sure to employ responsible tradespeople to remove household or commercial waste.

No longer must we turn a blind eye to those who believe it is perfectly okay for someone else to clean up their mess.