FLY-TIPPING incidents in St Helens have soared by almost 70 per cent over the past five years.

A Freedom of Information request to St Helens Council by the Local Democracy Reporter Service has revealed there has been 8,581 fly-tipping incidents from 2013-14 to 2017-18.

The vast majority of fly-tipping incidents involved household waste.

Others included asbestos, white goods, electrical items, commercial waste, green waste, clinical waste, construction/demolition waste, vehicle parts, tyres and chemical drums, oil or fuel.

Two incidents also involved the dumping of animal carcasses.

In 2017-18, the council recorded 2,005 instances of fly-tipping.

While a slight decrease from the 2,070 incidents in 2016-17, the total is a 68 per cent increase from the 1,192 fly-tipping incidents in 2013-14.

The town centre ward saw the most incidents in 2017-18 (462), followed by West Park (303) and Parr (195).

July featured the greatest number of incidents (228).

The council issued 1,344 warning letters in 2017-18, while also issuing four statutory notices and 39 fixed penalty notices.

Over the past five years, 13,028 warning letters were issued by the authority, as well as 211 statutory notices.

The council issued 139 fixed penalty notices – less than two per cent of the total number of incidents – over the same period.

A fixed penalty notice is a new power that enables authorities to demand up to £400.

Prior to the power coming into effect in May 2016, some local authorities, including St Helens, issued litter fixed penalty notices but these could only be justified for small amounts of deposited wastes.

Cllr Lynn Clarke, cabinet member for better neighbourhoods, said: "St Helens Council takes crimes such as fly-tipping, which takes up valuable resources during the clean-up operation, very seriously and we always actively pursue and seek to prosecute offenders.

“We are satisfied with our performance and think that the numbers of fixed penalties issued reflects the effort made to deal with this problem.

“Up until very recently fixed penalties were not even available for fly-tipping offences, but since a change in the law enabled them to be used, we have served an increasing number for lower level offences, while more serious offences are simply brought straight to prosecution.

“Only recently we had a successful result in court which led to a man being ordered to pay costs totalling just under £2,500 – as well as being handed a community order.

“Fly-tipping is a serious offence, carrying a potential jail term for those prosecuted and the investigations can be complex and protracted, as the evidence in these investigations has to be of the very highest standard.

“This takes highly trained and skilled officers, time and money – however the public can be assured that we will continue to pursue these criminals."

To report fly-tipping call 01744 676789 or visit sthelens.gov.uk/contactus

Alternatively, residents can report fly-tipping on the council's free mobile app, which can be found by searching 'St Helens Council' on the app store.