Cameras considered for village fly-tip hotspot

Cambridgeshire Police was informed of the pile of dumped waste in Castor by passing cyclists

A camera could be installed to deal with concerns about a village's fly-tipping hotspot.

Cambridgeshire Police was called to a dump of litter in Castor, near Peterborough this week.

The city council said it was "investigating the incident" on Peterborough Road and the rubbish would be removed soon. It was also considering installing at a new camera in the area.

This comes as the authority was awarded £50,000 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as part of a nationwide scheme to target fly-tipping hotspots.

Peterborough City Council said it is working to clear the rubbish

The council said it recorded a 12% increase in fly-tipping between January and April compared to same period last year.

April proved to be the worst on record, with 1,085 incidents recorded across the Peterborough district.

The funding could be used to set up a local delivery team, with officers from partner agencies including the police, local community leaders and educational establishments, to drive the project – which will focus on two areas of the city including urban and rural sites.

The council said that as the rural area was so vast they "anticipate it will be necessary to use the cameras covertly".

"To support this work we intend to offer match-funding to up to 10 local landowners to support the introduction of measures to prevent reoccurring incidents.

"Whilst these specific locations are not yet defined, the Multi-Agency Delivery Team will undertake work between now and commencement of the project to identify these locations and obtain the necessary consents and licences.

"Due to the prevalence of these issues across the rural area of Peterborough, we do not envisage a challenge in identifying these locations but welcome suggestions from members of the [Climate Change and Environment Scrutiny] committee."