Fly-tipping crackdown: Councillors call for greater use of CCTV at hotspots

Calls have been made for a greater use of CCTV cameras to help crackdown on fly-tipping in parts of Sunderland.
Rubbish dumped near James Steel Park in Washington.Rubbish dumped near James Steel Park in Washington.
Rubbish dumped near James Steel Park in Washington.

Several councillors on Washington Area Committee said CCTV cameras should be used to tackle the “awful” issue in the area, and asked for an update on them being provided.

It comes after Sunderland City Council approved new steps to help tackle fly-tipping in March.

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Cllr Louise Farthing, speaking at Thursday’s area committee meeting, said actions such as using CCTV cameras need to be taken to tackle fly-tipping hot spots.

The Washington South representative said: “I was particularly interested in finding out when we were going to start looking into the use of cameras for fly-tipping because it’s becoming awful.

“It’s just appalling and it happens all the time.

“We already know where the hot spots for fly-tipping are because our local services team have got a record of that.”

Cllr Henry Trueman, Washington West representative, added: “Something’s got to give somewhere and I think possibly cameras need to be looked at quite seriously.”

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Karon Purvis, Washington area officer, said following the decision in March for new plans to tackle fly-tipping they have commenced the recruitment of staff to run the neighbourhood management enforcement project.

She added they can look at providing more cameras to help tackle fly-tipping, however costs and other issues must be considered, such as the staff needed to operate them.

She said: “The other thing we could probably do is speak to enforcement and see if there is something within the council’s remit around managing fly-tipping and what we can and can’t do with cameras.

“The problem we have with cameras is it is expensive, it’s not just the cameras it’s the staff you have to pay to manage them, and that’s an added cost which isn’t included in our budget.

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“So it’s a bigger thing than just deciding that we want them on certain sites because that’s not really how it’s managed.”

Cllr Tony Taylor, Washington East representative, also hit out at the fly-tipping, and added the council’s bulky waste collection service is a reasonably priced way to dispose of items.

He said: “There’s really no need for it, especially when we’ve got the bulky item waste collection charge."