People should take responsibility for their own fly tipping

Members of the Council’s Bradford East Area Committee were given an update on fly-tipping, littering and street cleansing in the constituency at a meeting on Thursday evening.

Officers told them that fly-tipping in some areas was down to residents, rather than people coming into the area to dispose of waste.

And in some cases residents were told they would have to take ownership of the issue rather than rely on the taxpayer to constantly fund clean ups.

A report to the Committee said much of the fly-tipping in inner-city areas takes place in unadopted back streets.

It said: “Fly-tipping on unadopted back streets causes pressure on the service.

“There are many complexities where unadopted backs are concerned, and the Council do not have a statutory obligation or budget to remove this waste.

“The Council assess each site on its own merit and cannot always have a blanket approach to removal of this waste.

“Firstly, this should be investigated and establish any leads. Resident participation in catching perpetrators of waste crime is essential, such as sharing information or assisting in the deployment of cameras.

“Residents are encouraged to remove fly tipped waste from unadopted land outside their homes.

“Once these avenues have been explored, The Council look at options where we work with residents and in collaboration with neighbourhood wardens to clean the area, but this is unsustainable if the area continues to be tipped on.”

At the meeting Councillor Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem, Bradford Moor) said: “In a lot of cases it is the public who has to make a change, not the Council. What efforts are we making to help them make that change?”

Nadia Hussain, Bradford East Area Co-Ordinator, said: “We need to get residents involved – we have to get them on board.

“There are a lot of back streets with localised litter. It is not people coming from outside to dump this waste. It is sad to say but it is residents.

“We will have days of action where we clean up areas, but we tell the residents we won’t come back for another year, even if it gets like this again.

“That means that maintenance of the site is passed back to residents – it gives them some responsibility for what they do in their own areas.”

She said the Council would support any groups looking to carry out their own litter picks by providing equipment.