COUNCIL bosses have pledged to ‘take a hard line’ on fly-tippers blighting Sheffield’s green spaces.
It comes after The Star revealed the sorry state of land off Sutherland Road, Pitsmoor, earlier this week – with fizzy drink bottles, plastic bags, food waste and tin cans littering the site.
Coun Jack Scott, Sheffield Council cabinet member for environment, recycling and Streetscene said: “Let’s be clear here – fly tipping should not be tolerated in any shape or form.
“It is ghastly to look at, not to mention a health hazard, and is not something we want to see anywhere in Sheffield.
“There is no excuse for anyone to just dump their rubbish where they feel like it. No-one has the right to do that.
“Thank you to The Star for reporting this fly-tipping case to us.
“We take a hard line on those who seek to flout the law like this and we will keep doing this.
“We would urge everyone to report cases to us so we can investigate them.”
The council has issued hundreds of fixed penalty notices to people who have been caught fly-tipping.
In the last year, 12 people in the city have been convicted of waste-related offences with many more cautioned or having cases pending.
The council vowed to continue working with South Yorkshire police, businesses and residents to combat the problem.
Coun Scott said: “The council has drafted in extra enforcement staff to tackle the waste issue. These are working specifically to reduce littering in the city.”
The pledge follows Sheffield’s record on waste being shamed in a report on the state of the city.
According to the newly-published State of Sheffield 2013 report, in 2011/12, Sheffield residents generated 595kg of residual waste per household, with only Liverpool and Birmingham of the ‘core cities’ – England’s eight most economically-important cities outside of London – generating more.
All eight, except Newcastle, increased the amount of household waste recycled or composted between 2007/08 and 2011/12, but Sheffield showed the smallest rise.
And only Liverpool recycled a smaller share of its household waste than Sheffield in 2011/12 – 26 per cent compared with 29 per cent.
The other core cities are Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham.
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