Officers at Stoke-on-Trent City Council have been ordered to begin a crackdown on fly tipping in alleyways by the city's new Labour administration.

Staff undertook an intensive cleansing exercise in Hanley yesterday (Tuesday 30th May) where enforcement officers collected evidence to catch culprits while staff also tidied up a filthy alleyway on Argyle Street.

It comes as the council is preparing to recruit more enforcement officers and invest in more CCTV as part of a range of measures to stamp out fly tipping.

The new approach is aimed at supporting residents and communities, and will also include a review of tips and bulky waste collections.

It is one of the first initiatives in a new 'common sense' approach which aims to clean up the city.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council are taking steps to tackle flytipping across the city (LDR).

Cllr Amjid Wazir is the new deputy leader of the council, and is responsible for overseeing the environment and enforcement brief.

He said: "We want to clear up our city. If we can clean up, and if we're a cleaner and greener city, then we can attract more businesses.

"At the moment it's really filthy, and we need to do something about it. We're aiming to clear up within the first 100 days of our administration taking over the city."

He said the new administration intends to come down hard on those who blight the city with discarded rubbish and furniture in alleyways.

Cllr Wazir said: "We will not tolerate any fly tipping by anybody. We will find them and fine them.

"Just last month we fined 207 people with fixed penalty notices. We will carry on doing that, but we encourage our residents to dispose of their rubbish responsibly."

Cllr Amjid Wazir is the new deputy leader of the council, and is responsible for overseeing the environment brief (LDR).

He said residents can have five bulky items collected and disposed of at a cost of £40, but dismissed suggestions that this may be unaffordable for some people.

He said: "I think £40 is cheap, to dispose of bulky items like a double mattress or fridge, or a cooker and things like that.

"It's not a lot of money. I think it's good value."

Cllr Wazir also said locals have a responsibility for keeping the area tidy, as it is impossible for everything to be resolved by council staff.

He commented: "It's up to local residents to keep the alleys clean as well. They need to take pride in their area, and take care of their area.

"If they see somebody fly tipping they should report that as well."

Councillors are not only urging residents to not dump unwanted items, but report others too (LDR).

Dominic Gratty, the council's team manager for environmental crime, explained how the process works.

He said: "When a resident reports fly tipping, the environmental crime team are informed. We send an officer out to go through the rubbish to try to identify where it has come from.

"If we find evidence, we will seize it and then our colleagues in cleansing will come along and they have the job of disposal of that rubbish – at the cost of the taxpayer.

"On average, four black bags would cost around £120 to remove.

"From the alleyway we've visited here today, there's probably 10-20 black bags. That all comes out of the public purse and the taxpayer picks up that cost.

"We see hundreds of reports weekly about rubbish in alleyways, and there several hundred alleyways within the city.

"The teams are out there on a daily basis picking up that rubbish."

The council cleared 10-20 black bags of rubbish from a Hanley alleyway yesterday (LDR).

People can be fined up to £400 if the council can link the rubbish to them and prove it's not been disposed of responsibly.

Mr Gratty highlighted the authority's bulky waste collection service and local tips as being the proper choices for residents to get rid of unwanted items.

He said: "What we would ask residents to do is to be responsible.

"It's the area they live in. If they're dumping rubbish in the alleyway, not only does that take away the limited funds the council has got but it also detracts from the locality they actually live in.

"The council has a zero tolerance approach to waste offences. On the back of the evidence we receive today from the scene we will be issuing fines of £400 for fly tipping offences."

READ MORE: Five Stoke businesses awarded a five star hygiene rating this month 

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