Over 100 tonnes of fly-tipped waste has been removed from unadopted Bradford streets in the past year.
Councillors will be told that there are “many complexities” as to how this waste should be collected, and that people living in these areas have a major role to play in tackling the issue.
At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee on 03 March, members will be given an update on fly tipping in the District.
They will hear that one of the major issues facing the authority is waste dumped on unadopted roads or alleys.
The Council has no obligation to remove fly tipping that is not on public land, but the issue can be a thorny one, as leaving the waste can cause huge problems for those living in hot spot areas and lead to further issues such as rodent infestations.
Last February a video of huge piles of fly-tipping on a “partially unadopted” alley in Manningham went viral online, being viewed tens of thousands of times.
The Council eventually cleared the waste and said it aimed to recover the costs of cleaning the site from the landowner.
The report going to Tuesday’s meeting says: “Fly-tipping on unadopted back streets is still causing 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.
“Firstly, it should be investigated and any leads established to be investigated further by the enforcement team.
“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 littered waste from unadopted land outside their homes. Once these avenues have been explored, the Council look at options where we collaborate with residents and neighbourhood wardens to clean the area on days of action, more recently supported by the People Can dedicated team.
“Waste from unadopted backs has historically not been tracked separately to see the true value of this work.
“Last year, the Council started tracking this separately to show the scale of the issue and the pressure this puts on the service. 70 loads of waste were removed from unadopted backs streets and community clean ups, equating to approximately 100 tonnes of the overall waste total.”
