ONLY one per cent of fly-tippers received fines for dumping waste around Swindon throughout 2019 and 2020.

The town came 66th out of 315 areas listed in rankings which determined the parts of the UK that deal most effectively with the messy crime.

Out of 1,504 incidents, the local authority issued 17 fixed penalty notices - just 1.13 per cent of the total.

Not included in the table are other actions taken in response to fly-tipping reports during this time, which included 522 investigations and 171 warning letters.

Swindon fared better at tackling fly-tipping than Portsmouth, Newcastle, Stroud, Dorset and Manchester.

The worst area in England for fly-tipping is Camden in London, with 34,465 reported incidents in 2019/20 alone. Out of those incidents, only 93 resulted in fines being issued.

Islington topped the table by giving out fines for 71 per cent of 1,764 fly-tipping incidents, followed by Barnet fining 55 per cent of those responsible for 3,420 improper waste disposals, and Cambridge issuing penalties to 32 per cent of its 1,487 fly-tippers.

Double-digit percentages disappeared after the top seven areas. The south west as a whole was the third most-effective region at taking action on fly-tipping, with 444 fines issued out of the 50,506 reported fly-tipping incidents (0.88 per cent).

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “It’s up to each and every one of us to keep Swindon tidy and there is no excuse for people discarding their waste this way, especially when the council has a dedicated service which will pick up bulky items direct from outside people’s properties.

“We are expanding the size of our enforcement team which will allow us to catch more people in the act and result in more fines being handed out, but we need the public’s help.

“If you see any fly tipping, please let us know by reporting it via swindon.gov.uk/flytipping or if you have no online access, please ring 01793 445500.

“If you have rubbish which you need to dispose of which won’t go in your black bin or your green bin, you can book an appointment to take it to the Household Waste Recycling Centre by visiting swindon.gov.uk/hwrc

“For bulky household items, book a bulky waste collection at swindon.gov.uk/bulkywaste.”