SMALL-SCALE flytippers will be slapped with £400 spot fines if caught, council bosses have agreed.

The size of the fines are the maximum allowed under new legislation which allows local authorities to hit offenders with fixed penalty notices rather than having to take them to court.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s executive member for the environment, welcomed the new national legislation.

She said the cost of clearing up small-scale flytipping incidents currently fell to the council taxpayer, which she said was “not appropriate”.

Cllr Ferriby said people who tipped larger amounts of waste illegally would still face court action.

She said: “If people don’t act responsibly, it is quite right that they are given fixed penalty notices or, if it is a larger-scale tip, we pursue them through the court.”

Cllr Imran Khan, executive member for education, asked whether people could be fined for having rubbish-strewn gardens under the new system. He was told they would instead be hit by something called a community protection notice.