Oldham Council is estimated to have spent more than £600,000 in clear up and enforcement fees to try and tackle fly-tipping last year.

Data recently published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed there were 5,672 fly-tipping incidents in Oldham in the year to March 2023.

During the same period, 208 fixed penalty notices were issued in Oldham for fly-tipping, which led to £6,394 being paid by those found guilty of the offence.

However, according to licensed waste collectors and local junk reusers Lovejunk, it cost Oldham Council around £616,241 to deal with fly-tipping for the year.

According to Lovejunk's estimated costs, Oldham Council had the third highest costs when dealing with fly-tipping of the boroughs in Greater Manchester, coming behind only Manchester City Council and Salford Council.

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In response to the figures, Cllr Chris Goodwin, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: “Keeping our borough clean and tidy is one of our biggest priorities as a council.

“Unfortunately, however, there are some people who would rather dump their rubbish illegally because they don’t care about where they live.

“That’s why the council launched its dedicated Don’t Trash Oldham campaign to tackle issues such as fly tipping and littering to catch these culprits.

"In the last year alone, we have handed out 151 fines for offences linked to fly-tipping, littering and duty of care offences, with 68 fines paid so far. We have also prosecuted 26 people.

“Similarly, since the campaign launched in September 2021, more than 650 fixed penalty notices have been issued for these environmental crimes, with another 112 have prosecuted in court.

“Our teams are out every week gathering evidence to catch those responsible and we have prosecutions lined up, to ensure these people see their day in court for the mess they have created.”

According to government statistics, there were 5,672 fly-tipping incidents in Oldham in the year to March 2023, meaning there were 23.3 incidents per 1,000 people in the borough.

The 5,672 incidents showed a slight decrease from the 5,903 incidents in 2021-22.

In the borough, most fly-tipped waste was discovered in back alleyways, accounting for 53 per cent of recorded incidents, with 16 per cent being discovered on highways.

The largest proportion of discarded waste was household waste, making up 46 per cent of all incidents in Oldham.