Hidden CCTV cameras are to be used by Bradford Council for the first time to catch flytippers and litter louts red-handed.

The covert cameras will be set up by the Council's 13-strong Visible Services team in areas persistently blighted by illegal rubbish dumping.

Environmental bosses hope that the cameras will provide them with hard evidence to be used in court cases against offenders, who last year left the Council with a £250,000 clean-up bill.

The move has been welcomed by management at recycling company John Hornby & Son, whose business in Birkshall Lane, off Bowling Back Lane, Bradford, has been blighted by flytippers during the past few years with staff often arriving at work to find several tonnes of waste dumped in front of their gates. Company director Stephen Hillas, said: "It is a brilliant idea and something we have been asking for for years.

"Ever since landfill tax was increased we have had stuff dumped here regularly. No sooner will the Council come and clear it away than it gets covered with rubbish again. Sometimes we can hardly move for all the rubbish that gets dumped here.

"What makes it all so crazy is that there is a household waste site just around the corner."

Neil Atkinson, head of the Council's enforcement team, said: "To a large extent we rely upon witness testimony in court, which sometimes makes convictions hard to secure.

"The new cameras will be placed at dumping hot-spots and will give us fantastic evidence when we go to court.

"We do not have the resources to have officers carrying out surveillance 24 hours a day but with the cameras we will have a constant eye on grot spots."

Covert CCTV surveillance has already been successfully used by the Environment Agency to trap flytippers.

In 2003, it carried out a three week long crackdown called operation Harvest, which led to eight prosecutions being brought against people who had been filmed dumping rubbish.

Mr Atkinson said that the worst areas for illegal littering were in Bradford city centre and around the Duckworth Lane and Toller Lane areas where large numbers of take-away restaurants operate.

The team's officers patrol the streets of Bradford looking for litter louts. Officers take down the registration plates of cars they see people throwing rubbish from and track down the owners via the DVLA's registration website.

Mr Atkinson said on-the-spot fines and prosecutions are acting as a deterrent to stop people littering and flytipping.

The Council's enforcement team was set up in January 2004 to enforce a zero tolerance policy on littering. The team can give fixed penalty notices of £50 to people seen dropping litter and prosecute those who refuse to pay up.

Since it was set up more than 800 litter louts have been slapped with £50 fines for dropping litter and five successful prosecutions against flytippers have been brought, some of whom have been fined more than £500.

From April 2006, the amount litterbugs will be fined will increase to £75.

"Obviously we are in the business of enforcing litter laws but the punishments are acting as a useful deterrent," said Mr Atkinson.

"The Telegraph & Argus Bin it for Bradford campaign is helping us get the message across that litter will not be tolerated."

The Bin it for Bradford campaign was started two years ago to help clean up the city's streets.

People have also been urged to help the enforcement teams by noting registration details of vehicles used by flytippers or litter dumpers and report all incidents to the Council on (01274) 434366.