Glasgow, Britain’s f ly-tipping capital

Scotland’S largest city has been ‘crowned’ the fly-tipping capital of Britain.

Glasgow city council recorded 6,718 illegal dumping crimes in the three months leading up to lockdown – around 660 a week.

the figure is more than 3,000 higher than the next worst fly-tipping blackspot of Bristol, which recorded 3,658.

South lanarkshire council and Highland council were the only two other Scottish authorities to make the UK top ten list, recording 2,092 and 1,207 respectively.

there was a total of 261,500 flytipping crimes across the UK over the same 12-week period.

It is feared incidents will increase during the rest of the year, with conservation groups previously warning of a huge surge in cases in rural areas during lockdown, when bin collection services were suspended.

the research was commissioned by outdoor clothing and accessories company toG24.

Managing director Mark Ward said: ‘We wanted to understand how big an impact fly-tipping is having in the UK and on people’s enjoyment of our beautiful countryside. as well as the impact on the countryside, there’s also the financial aspect in terms of the costs to local authorities.’

the 6,718 Glasgow figure included 4,972 incidents reported by members of the public, as well as 1,732 cases of fly-tipping recorded but ‘not reported’ through formal channels.

Four incidents were reported to the local authority by its own employees. a council spokesman said: ‘Fly-tipping is blatant antisocial behaviour that undermines communities and places a significant drain on our resources.’

the figures show the thirdhighest level recorded by a local authority was in doncaster (3,115), followed by Southampton (2,849) and the london borough of Hillingdon (2,602). a Scottish

Government spokesman said: ‘We are absolutely clear littering and fly-tipping are unacceptable, whatever the circumstances, and there is no excuse for this behaviour in Scotland.’

In a bid to combat the problem this year, the daily Mail is proudly supporting the Great British September clean, which began last week.