West Oxfordshire: One fly-tipping officer covers area, council told

More than £20,000 has been spent on cleaning up dumped rubbish in the area recently

A district council employs one fly-tipping enforcement officer to cover its 276-sq-mile (715-sq-km) area, it has emerged.

A West Oxfordshire District Council meeting heard there were more than 1,100 fly-tipping incidents in the district in a year.

The estimated cost of the clean-up was £20,000 plus the waste tipping costs.

In a statement, the authority said it shared fly-tipping enforcement staff with other councils.

Councillors at the overview and scrutiny committee heard "it wasn't possible to cover absences without diverting resources away from other important activities within environmental services".

December's report also noted a link between a tougher approach to charging at the household waste recycling centres and increased incidents of fly-tipping.

There were more than 1,100 incidents in the district in the year to 30 September, the meeting heard.

Cameras are being deployed in the district to monitor known hotspots for fly-tipping, councillors were told.

The authority has increased fixed penalties for fly-tipping from £400 to £1,000.

In a statement, the council said: "Fly-tipping is a blight on our beautiful district and we take enforcement very seriously which is why we have agreed to increase the amount people can be fined.

"We have a team working across our partner councils to enforce fly tipping in West Oxfordshire.

"This includes one officer dedicated in West Oxfordshire but also other officers in a bigger shared team who investigate and prosecute fly-tipping in the district."

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].