A SENIOR councillor is calling for tougher measures against fly-tippers – and urged residents to play their part by reporting perpetrators.

Cllr Tony Higgins (LAB – Fairfield and Howley), the council’s cabinet member for leisure and community, said fly-tipping remains a massive issue in the town.

He said: “What breaks communities is when they see their environment being blighted by fly-tipping.

“What I can say is that during the pandemic we had more problems and complaints about fly-tipping, certainly in Fairfield and Howley and the inner wards, than ever before.

“I think it was probably because people were clearing their garages but it was blighting our communities.

“Dumped rubbish, sofas wardrobes, fridges, freezers – it was appalling behaviour.”

However, Cllr Higgins was keen to hail the efforts of volunteers across the borough.

He said: “But we have a great team of volunteers across the whole of the Warrington network and community volunteers, who I am supporting, and supporting through the community initiative fund, that are making a difference.”

Furthermore, Cllr Higgins urged residents to play their part in the battle against the issue.

He added: “But we do need people to actively report fly-tippers to the council – we need evidence to beat fly-tippers.

“We need fines and huge penalties for people who commit the blight on communities and ultimately it could be an offence where people should be jailed.

“I have always been a hard advocate for real, hard punishment around fly-tipping and I think we need to stand tough on it.

“We try to educate people and also work with community groups and we always support residents in getting rid of bulky rubbish.

“But there is a small element of people who still believe it’s ok to dump on our streets and it’s not ok – ultimately tough measures need to be taken.

“The costs of removing rubbish is going up and our capacity to deal with the removal of this rubbish is certainly challenging and having to deal with these issues does impact on some of our services.”