COUNCILLORS have called for figures on fly-tipping prosecutions to be published, after expressing frustration that people are still dumping rubbish.

A task group investigating how fly-tipping is prosecuted as part of a project looking at the council’s waste contracts described the process as ‘bureaucratic’, hinting that it was not leading to enough prosecutions.

Cabinet member for highways Cllr Bridget Wayman said: “I want to prosecute where there is evidence as much as possible.”

Officers are due to find out how may prosecutions have been made ahead of the council’s next Environment Select Committee in April.

Chair of the task group, Cllr Sven Hocking, said: “We have found that going down the prosecution route is long, and bureaucratic and does not act as a deterrent for people. We appreciate the high cost associated with prosecuting and the need for evidence. We think it is better to issue fixed penalty notices instead of warning letters.

“We had one instance where rubbish was seen, wardrobes and furniture in a garden, and then it was found two streets away. Local enforcement officers said that even though we had evidence of where it had come from, that was not enough evidence to prosecute. If that is not enough how will we ever get enough evidence to prosecute?”

Councillor Mike Hewitt, who represents the Woodford Valley near Salisbury, said: “There are bridlepaths in my area that are consistently being fly-tipped on. The parish council is looking into getting cameras fitted in certain trouble spots.” A Swindon man was fined £400 in October and another was fined £1,230 in August for hiring a freelance fly-tipper who dumped rubbish in a Wiltshire village.