Fly tippers move in to area

West Lothian is under siege from rogue fly-tippers.

Council officials report a surge in dumping - up by 87 per cent this year - with the bulk of it being trucked in from surrounding areas.

In one of the worst incidents 50 tyres were dumped.

The increase is happening across West Lothian but is at its worst on the borders of Edinburgh, North and South Lanarkshire.

Councillors of the Livingston South Local Area Committee asked if it was domestic dumping linked to changes in the recycling centre opening times.

NETs officials say no and claim it’s all commercial ‘white year. van man’ and link the increase to a tightening of landfill regulations and rising costs

faced by small business to get rid of waste - especially contaminants like tyres, batteries and asbestos laden builders rubble.

At the same time it is getting harder to catch the dumpers. They are wise to council investigators searching rubbish for clues to ownership and are now filtering dumping. evidence adopting loads that other There before dumpers tactics is also are including number plates using on false vehicles to avoid detection. This has made it more difficult for the council to trace dumpers and report them to the Fiscal for prosecution. Fly tipping has surged across the UK this yeah.

West Lothian Council is planning a major campaign early in the new year enlisting the help of the public and partner agencies to clamp down on the dumpers.

A spokeswoman for the National Farmers Union of Scotland said:“Many of our members, particularly on the outskirts of urban areas are blighted by fly tipping, a problem which appears to be increasing significantly. The issues range from householders throwing away sofas and fridges to large-scale commercial dumping and then on to illegal warehousing of waste which becomes industrial scale fly tipping. Given the blight that rural crime in general is placing on our communities, NFUS is working closer than ever with local police forces and other stake holders to combat this.”