LOCALS are being warned fly-tipping is not a 'victimless crime' and brings damaging consequences.

It follows as South Lakeland District Council recorded 161 fly-tipping incidents in 2019-20, 44 more than the previous year.

Dumped waste was found on South Lakeland’s roads and pavements 67 times accounting for 42 per cent of incidents and 26 in back alleyways (16 per cent).

Residents are now being urged by the council to follow the correct waste removal protocol – and warned that some fly-tipping offences could result in a five-year prison sentence.

A council spokesman said: “Fly-tipping is not a victimless crime.

"As well as the cost to the environment, the financial cost of clearance, disposal and investigation is ultimately borne by the council tax payers of the district.

"We investigate every case of fly-tipping reported and, if appropriate, action will be taken. This can range from fixed penalty notices and warning letters being issued to prosecutions, potentially significant fines and even custodial sentences.

“The maximum penalty for fly-tipping that can be imposed by the courts is a £50,000 fine and up to five years in prison for the most serious offences.

“Residents are also reminded that they have a responsibility to ensure that waste or building materials from their property is disposed of correctly. If you employ someone to take it away and dispose of it then you could be facing a fine yourself if that waste is subsequently fly-tipped.

"If the price you are quoted to take it away seems too good to be true, then it probably is and you should beware.”

Across South Lakeland, small van loads of waste were dumped illegally on 46 occasions. A further two incidents saw fly-tippers discard enough rubbish to fill a tipper lorry each, costing the council £330 to clear.

South Lakeland District Council took action over 20 fly-tipping offences in 2019-20, with the authority undertaking 19 investigations.

The latest in a spate of recent commercial fly-tipping crimes in South Lakeland saw more than 70 tyres abandoned in a lay-by at Bog Lane, Brathay, near Ambleside, at around 11pm on February 12. Locality officers at SLDC are investigating the incident and are asking the public to contact them if they saw truck carrying tyres within a five-mile radius of Bog Lane on that night.