In a bid to crackdown on environmental crime Basingstoke borough council has approved a new scheme to catch out people dumping waste illegally.
Cabinet member for the environment Elaine Still green lighted plans to use mobile CCTV cameras to watch over fly tipping hotspots.
The move comes as the borough attempts to slash the 4,095 reported incidences in 2010.
Cllr Still said: “Fly tipping is a blight on the environment and costly to clear up, as well as putting wildlife at risk.
“I am determined that we will take a no tolerance approach to this kind of anti-social behaviour.”
The borough council’s operations team are being trained to use the system, which starts in March.
Cllr Still, said: “CCTV is an important weapon in deterring potential offenders and prosecuting those caught in the act of committing a crime.
“Its use in isolated areas which attract persistent and serious dumping will send out a strong message to potential fly tippers that such action is not acceptable.”
In 2008/2009 national fly tipping watchdog Fly Capture labelled the borough as “ineffective” in dealing with offences.
From April 2009 to March 2010, the borough council mounted 1,210 actions against suspected offenders and the total number of incidences fell by more than 2,000.
But the borough council’s head of environmental care, Claire Harper, admitted more work was needed.
She said: “Although we have increased our enforcement activity significantly in the past 12 months there still remains much to be done.
“In order to maintain our status as ‘very effective’ in 2010/2011 and beyond we need to continue to increase the number of the enforcement activities we undertake while decreasing the number of incidents.”
The scheme will cost £475 a year to run.
But according to Fly Capture illegal dumping costs the borough council an estimated £128,890 to clean up after fly tippers.
In December last year 39-year-old Adrian Lucas from Alton was fined £600 by Basingstoke Magistrates after dumping rubble on land adjacent to Martin Close in South View.
