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Flytipping in Kent: Cases of dumped rubbish has gone up in past three years

There's been a rise in cases of flytipping in Kent since 2013.

Figures show councils dealt with almost 20,000 incidents of dumped rubbish in the past 12 months - a rise of around 3,000 compared to three years earlier.

There were a total of 19,547 cases in the 12 months from April last year, compared to 21,014 from 2014 to 2015 and 16,661 from 2013 to 2014.

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Flytipping at the side of the road in Central Road, Dartford last year.
Flytipping at the side of the road in Central Road, Dartford last year.

The greatest number was dealt with by Medway, where there were 3,559 reported incidents.

However, that was much lower than the previous year, when it dealt with 5,083 incidents.

Of Kent’s district and borough councils, Swale saw the largest number of incidents - 2,966 - compared to 2,588 the previous year, a rise of 378.

It was followed by Gravesham at 2,258 (1,986 in 2014-15) then Dartford at 1,961 (1,825 in 2014-15).

Tunbridge Wells saw the greatest increase in incidents, with 696 incidents compared to 390 in 2014-15.

Nationally, councils reported 936,090 cases of fly-tipping in 2015-16, costing almost £50m to clear up.

Campaigners say financial pressure on local authorities had resulted in waste collection services being cut.

The figures exclude new powers councils were given in May 2016 to hand out on-the-spot fines of up to £400.

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