MORE money is to be invested in tackling fly-tipping after councillors warned it was a problem affecting the whole district – from urban areas to countryside lanes.

Sites around Keighley and the Worth Valley are among hotspots for the illegal dumping of waste.

At a meeting of Bradford Council, members voted to boost the budget to tackle fly-tipping by £100,000.

The move will allow for measures including the purchase of 15 new mobile cameras that can capture the registration numbers of offenders’ vehicles.

Council leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, said fly-tipping was “selfish and illegal”.

“The people who do it don’t care about where they live or where other people live,” she said.

“Every member of this council shares my frustration about this selfish behaviour.

“This is a national crisis that costs taxpayers across the country £57 million a year.”

Cllr Hinchcliffe also highlighted the growing problem of unscrupulous waste removal businesses which advertise on social media – taking money to dispose of waste, only to dump it illegally.

She added: “My advice to anyone who receives a flier or offer to remove waste on social media that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. There are always other options. The vast majority of businesses are responsible with how they dispose of waste, but some take a short cut.

“Money we spend to deal with fly-tipping is money that could have been spent on vital services.

“Why people think they can do this is baffling. They are certainly not concerned about being good citizens. We want to take an approach where we are saying ‘enough is enough’.

“But there is not one overall solution. We need to throw less away and up-cycle more items.”

Members were told that since 2016, the council had crushed three vehicles and carried out 93 prosecutions in relation to fly-tipping.

Eighty per cent of prosecutions were secured thanks to camera footage.

The council was told the new cameras would be able to be deployed throughout the district.

Councillor Martin Love said it was important that fly-tippers were handed tougher sentences. Nationally nobody had been handed the maximum sentence of a £50,000 fine or 12 months in prison.

Last month, a Keighley man was prosecuted after he had been seen dumping and setting fire to black bin bags at Damems Road in the town.

Using details supplied by a witness, Bradford Council enforcement officers were able to track down the offender – who was fined £583 with £350 costs and told to pay a £58 victim surcharge after pleading guilty to depositing controlled waste.