Councillors call for cameras to catch fly-tippers

Southend Council is working to tackle fly-tipping in the city

Councillors have called for secret cameras to be installed to catch fly-tippers in a seaside city.

Southend-on-Sea City Council has announced plans to appoint a contractor to enforce penalties for fly-tipping, after it was revealed that no fixed-penalty notices had been issued in the city for the offence.

The move comes after Colin Campbell, a Conservative councillor, asked the council to address the problem.

During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, councillors suggested using the council's traffic spy car and secret rock cameras, which had been previously purchased by the authority, to tackle the issue.

'Lacking in enforcement'

James Courtenay, a Conservative councillor responsible for community safety, said: "The last thing we want to do is issue fixed penalty notices and prosecute people. We want to do informal action but we’ve tried that and it’s failed."

He announced the authority's plans to employ a private contractor who would be responsible for tackling fly-tipping.

Meg Davidson, a Conservative councillor responsible for the environment, said the motion by Mr Campbell "highlights a long-standing issue" for residents.

“Fly-tipping and litter is probably in the top three issues that bug our residents.

“Although plenty of work has been done on sending letters and the education side, it is clear that to issue zero fixed-penalty notices we have perhaps been lacking in enforcement.”