Angus councillors have warned that the county’s flytipping shame could get even worse.
The Courier revealed on Monday that no enforcement action has been taken against rogue dumpers despite 369 reports of flytipping in Angus in 2014/15 and 373 last year.
Montrose Lib Dem councillor David May said he had “genuine concerns” the tally would rise further following the introduction of charges for garden waste pick-up.
The £25 annual charge was brought in this month as part of a major shake-up of recycling services in the wake of “severe budgetary constraints”.
Mr May said: “I have very genuine concerns that our Angus figures on flytipping will now escalate even further as the council are now charging £25 for green waste collection especially as 2/3 of our residents have not taken up this service.
“It is disappointing to hear that not only is flytipping in Angus seemingly at a high level but is actually increasing in the past year.
“It also appears that some other councils are being able to take action on some people that have been identified and taken action on flytippers, but our council has not.
“I can well understand why some Angus residents have suggested that the council should do more about enforcement.
“I call on residents to give as much help to the council to identify those who are flytipping as it is clear that it is the council who are clearing up what has been dumped and this costs money.”
Carnoustie independent councillor Bill Bowles said flytipping was totally irresponsible and a selfish way of disposing of domestic and commercial waste.
He said: “Unfortunately I can see that this problem will most definitely increase given the introduction of charges for garden waste by Angus Council.
“It appears that Angus Council are doing nothing to catch those who are carrying out this activity so there is no deterrent.
“I would like to know how much this clean up is costing our waste management department and if the inevitable increase in clean up costs will offset any revenue from the green bin charges.”
Arbroath independent councillor David Fairweather said he has already seen garden waste being dumped following the £25 levy.
He said: “I have already visited a block where bags of garden waste were dumped because they are not going to pay the charge.
“This is where I feel the concept was totally flawed and it can only get worse – and believe me, it will get worse.
“If the council are not actively taking enforcement action against offenders then that alarms me.
“It seems stupid that we chase irresponsible dog owners but we aren’t prepared to chase the people who are fouling up beautiful Angus by flytipping.”
A spokesman for Angus Council said: “There has been no increase in reported fly tipping since the start of our new garden waste collection scheme, to which almost 20,000 households have now subscribed.
“Since its launch, we have received 14 complaints of fly tipping, one of which was for green waste.
“We received 28 reports during the same period in 2015 (one for green waste).
“In the month prior to the subscription service, we received 36 fly tipping complaints, seven of those for green waste, so complaints have actually reduced this month.
“It is important to remember that we were faced with finding almost £400,000 from a review of our garden waste collection service, and the alternative was to stop providing this non-statutory service altogether.
“Many councils simply choose not to provide a garden waste collection service.
“All members of the Communities Committee agreed to the introduction of a subscription service so that people were offered the option of paying a small annual charge should they wish to continue to have their garden waste collected.
“Angus receives comparatively fewer fly tipping complaints than our other local authority neighbours, but we are not complacent about this issue.”
