FLY-TIPPING was discovered more than 1,000 times in Bromsgrove last year, new figures show.

Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy said the high level of fly-tipping seen across England is a "tragedy" to the environment and to communities.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) figures reveal there were 1,261 fly-tipping incidents in Bromsgrove in the year to March 2022 – though this was down from 2,549 the year before.

A total of 48 per cent of fly-tipping was discovered on highways and 27 per cent was discovered on council land.

Of the discarded waste, the largest proportion was household waste at 46 per cent.

The data also shows £27,140 was paid by councils on removing large incidents of fly-tipping in Bromsgrove.

Across England, 1.09 million fly-tipping incidents were recorded in 2021-22– a decrease of 4 per cent from the 1.14 million reported in 2020-21.

The cost of clearance to local authorities was £10.7 million last year.

The Defra figures show about 91,000 fixed penalty notices were issued across England in 2021-22, an increase of 58 per cent from 2020-21.

And the number of court fines nearly tripled from just 621 in 2021-21 to 1,798 last year.

The value of all fines was £840,000 in 2021-22, more than doubling the £330,000 from the year before.

In Bromsgrove, six fixed penalty notices were issued last year, up from none in 2020-21.

David Renard, an environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, said fly-tipping is not just an eyesore for residents, but a serious environmental and public health risk.

 “Councils are working tirelessly to counter the thousands of incidents every year and are determined to crack down on the problem, so it is good to see that the number of enforcement actions has increased,” said Mr Renard.