Senior councillor hits back over claims fly-tipping not taken seriously

Deputy leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council Jamie Pritchard has hit back at claims the authority is not doing enough to combat fly-tipping.

The response comes after Nigel Dix, independent councillor for Blackwood, said the council has “built a six foot fence and given fly-tippers a seven foot ladder” when commenting on the council’s approach to tackling fly-tipping.

Cllr Pritchard said: “The last time I checked, the council doesn’t go around encouraging residents to fly-tip, so I would say it should be the small minority of irresponsible fly-tippers that Cllr Dix should be condemning.

“The council takes fly-tipping seriously, and I would encourage anybody with any intelligence to report the issue in order to catch those who fly-tip.”

When speaking to Caerphilly Observer, Cllr Dix also added that the council should be installing more CCTV at ‘hotspots’ instead of focusing on the clean-up when an incident is reported.

Asked about its approach to tackling fly-tipping, a council spokesperson said: “As an authority we are constantly looking into new ways to trying to deter people from disposing of their waste illegally.

“This involves working with our communications team to encourage proper disposal of waste via social media, working with local communities and investing in new equipment such as CCTV and trail cameras to help alleviate the issue and aid investigations.”

More information on how to dispose of waste correctly can be found on the council’s website.