SEVENTY-five occurrences of fly-tipping have been cleared by the borough council since January this year — but despite this, the unsightly incidents are apparently reducing ‘year on year’.

West Devon Borough Council announced the total last week as a response to a request by the Times.

Although the total does not account for any waste dumped on private land, or even fly-tipping incidents on Dartmoor, they were roughly what the council ‘expects for this time of year’.

Over the past few months, people have taken to social media with their fly-tipping findings and slammed those who dump their rubbish instead of disposing of it at a recycling centre.

One area badly affected appeared to be Burrator. One local resident said that there had been a ‘recent spate’ in the Burrator area and appealed for people to keep their eyes open for suspicious vans or trucks loaded with rubbish or rubble.

Members of the public said that the cause of fly-tipping in the Tavistock area was due to the actions of some staff members at Crowndale Recycling Centre; the cost to recycle their items and even the rules and regulations over what can be tipped.

One person even said that he had noticed an ‘increase in people fly-tipping into his commercial waste bins’.

Burrator parish councillor Keith Scrivener said: ‘Local authority recycling services really need to reassess their policies. By charging individuals and small companies for using the tipping facility we may be making it too discouraging and so enticing fly-tipping which is a scourge of the landscape and usually involves a costly clean-up.’

Richard Easthope, localities team leader at West Devon Borough Council, said: ‘Since January this year we have cleared 75 fly-tips in West Devon, which is roughly what we’d expect for this time of year. Of course we can only clear fly-tips on our land and any on private land will be the responsibility of the landowner. Our mobile localities officers investigate every fly-tip that is reported to us and if we can find evidence to fine or prosecute the offender we will do so.

‘Year on year we’ve seen a reduction in fly-tips across both West Devon and South Hams and we continue to monitor the situation closely.’

Dartmoor National Park Authority was unable to gather a specific figure to the reports of fly-tipping on the land, but did announce how much it cost the authority to clear away rubbish dropped on the park.

A spokesman said: ‘It costs about £20,000 a year to clear up and dispose of litter dropped by the public and that doesn’t include all of the fly-tipped rubbish as that cost will be covered by the landowner, unless the owner of the rubbish can be traced.’

Councils in England are calling for tougher sentences for fly-tippers — read more about these calls below.

If you need to report a fly-tipping incident, visit www.westdevon.gov.uk/article/4186/Fly-Tipping