THESE shocking images are just a snapshot of some of the regular sights that are blighting communities in St Helens.

The pictures were taken by clean-up crews and were shared with councillors this week as they were updated on fly-tipping and how it has been affected by the Covid pandemic.

A report that went before the council’s place services scrutiny committee on Wednesday says Covid has changed the pattern, type and amount of waste collected in the borough, but fly-tipping remains an issue.

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Labour councillor Andy Bowden, cabinet member for environment and transport, said there is “no excuse” for fly-tipping, saying it is simply the result of “lazy and selfish behaviour”.

“We and our officers have better things to do than clean up after these individuals,” Cllr Bowden said.

“I have made my views clear in the past on those responsible, and I’m sure those living with it have stronger views and words for the individuals responsible.

“I also have to say I appreciate the many members of the communities who report these problems.

“We and you as councillors as well know how frustrating it can be at times, but we need their support to identify these hotspots and where problems are occurring.”

Reports of fly-tipping have fallen slightly in recent years, however, the concern is that incidents are focused on the same places and areas.

A new campaign launched by the council this week to tackle the long-standing issue will see CCTV used to monitor known hotspots.

Tony Galloway, the interim director of operations, told councillors that the authorty is taking a much more focused approached to fly-tipping.

He said that when the fly-tipping team go to clear areas, they look for evidence of who may be the culprits and if the threshold is met, the council will take action via Fixed Penalty Notices or Community Protection Notices.

In 2019-20, the local authority recovered £23,300 in enforcement fines, compared to £11,100 in 2018-20.

Mr Galloway said in some extreme cases, the council will look to prosecute, saying the local authority instigating 16 prosecutions this financial year.

In 2019-20 the total number of fly-tipping incidents was 1,817, a slight decrease from 1,959 in 2018-19 and 2,005 in 2017-18.

Figures for the current financial year show a slight increase when compared to previous years, although not as large as expected.

Councillors were told there was a small increase in reports of fly-tipping over the Christmas period.

Between Christmas Eve and February 9, there were 110 reports of fly-tipping compared to 88 incidents in 2019-20.

One reason that has been mooted as a possible reason for fly-tipping in recent years is the introduction of charges to remove bulky waste.

Following the introduction of charging for the service the demand for collections of bulky waste fell from more than 20,000 requests in 2013-14 to 2,700 in 2018-19.

During that same five-year period, incidents of dumping in alleyways and on highways increased.

In 2013-14 there were 818 incidents of fly-tipping in alleyways and 183 on highways. By 2018-19, this had almost doubled, jumping from 1,431 incidents in alleyways and 361 on the highway.

Mr Galloway told councillors he does not think this correlates with the ten-fold decrease seen in requests for bulky waste items to be removed.

He added that while the number of reports of fly-tipping have remained fairly constant, the amount of waste dumped can vary “quite considerably”.

The council’s new #ThinkTwice campaign also highlights the dangers of paying someone who isn’t licensed who may then dump it where they shouldn’t.

St Helens Star:

This could see you slapped with a hefty fine if it’s tracked back to you.

Cllr Bowden said the public awareness campaign will aim to “educate and inform and enforce”.

He said: “While some, though I know not us in this meeting today, may consider some of these activities as low-level crime, and ASB, if you, as a decent law-abiding resident have to put up with this week in, week out, it is wearing.

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“It’s demoralising and it is understandably frustrating. These are the residents that I believe we are on the side of. And people can look for excuses, but there are none.

“There is no excuse or justification for fly-tipping, and we do and will prosecute where we have the evidence.”

For more information, visit sthelens.gov.uk/flytipping