Council urges residents to clear fly-tipped waste

Bradford Council officers say residents are responsible for dumping waste behind homes in some areas

Persistent fly-tipping outside homes is caused by residents in some areas of Bradford and should be cleaned up by them, Bradford Council has said.

Waste was being dumped in some areas by the people living there, rather than people from outside the neighbourhood, council officers told a meeting.

They said that the authority was not obliged to keep clearing up rubbish from back streets that are not public roads and that it did not have the budget to continue doing so.

Councillor Riaz Ahmed told the meeting: "In a lot of cases it is the public who has to make a change, not the council."

A report by council officers said the repeated clean ups had put "pressure on the service".

"The council assesses each site on its own merit and cannot always have a blanket approach to removal of this waste," they added.

Each case should be investigated to establish any leads, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Resident participation in catching perpetrators of waste crime is essential, such as sharing information or assisting in the deployment of cameras," officers said.

Nadia Hussain, Bradford East area co-ordinator, told the meeting that litter was "not people coming from outside to dump this waste".

"It is sad to say but it is residents," she said.

Groups carrying out litter picks will be given council equipment, she added.

The council report said the fly tipping would be investigated and followed up to catch the "perpetrators of waste crime".

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