The Police and Crime Commissioner is investing £20,000 to prevent fly-tipping in Herefordshire.

Herefordshire Council have been awarded the grant for:

⢠Prevention of fly-tipping through signage and CCTV.

⢠Increasing reporting including access to the ’report a fly tip’ function on the council website.

⢠Working with partners to bring offenders to justice.

⢠Improving advice to landowners to help them deter criminals.

The Commissioner is also investing a further £10,000 to prevent tyre dumping. The Tyre Tag initiative is an innovative and sustainable, force wide project with West Mercia Police, alongside local authorities and Smartwater. It aims to prevent garages from being targeted by organised criminals to illegally dispose of tyres.

10,000 incidents of fly tipping were reported across West Mercia last year, a 6% increase on the previous year.

Commissioner John Campion said: "Fly tipping is an issue which has been raised by our communities time and time again. Not only is it unsightly and a nuisance, it causes a substantial cost to landowners and is hazardous to our environment and wildlife.

"I am pleased to be investing with Herefordshire Council, helping put an end to this blight on our communities."

Cllr Ange Tyler, Cabinet member for Housing, regulatory services, and community safety, said: "We are delighted to be awarded this grant and are grateful to the Police and Crime Commissioner for this additional funding. Every fly tip complaint logged to Herefordshire Council is investigated and where at all possible we will always prosecute. This initiative will help us to protect the many landowners, farmers and communities who are left with the problem of dumped rubbish on their land, particularly as they then have to pick up the waste disposal costs themselves.

"We hope our campaign will make a real difference and we plan to review its effectiveness and report this back to the Police and Crime Commissioner".