Landowners in two Northamptonshire districts can have fly-tipping removed for free, courtesy of police commissioner

The Northamptonshire police, fire and crime commissioner is covering the cost of having fly-tipping cleared from private land in two areas of the county.

Stephen Mold will also hand out grants to fund measures to prevent further illegal rubbish dumping as well as buying mobile CCTV cameras for councils to use in hotspots.

The scheme is a pilot being ran with East Northamptonshire and Daventry district councils and will last for six months.

Mr Mold said: “Fly tipping is now part of organised criminality and it is a blight on rural areas.

"I have spoken to some farmers who are at the end of their tether with the costs of repeated fly tipping.

"It harms their land; it harms the local environment and it is quite simply a crime.

“I want to create a safe environment in Northamptonshire and I am pleased that we have been able to work with the local authorities in Daventry and East Northamptonshire to quickly put this pilot scheme in place.

"We’ll be evaluating its effect on fly tipping in those areas, and the ability to track down the offenders.”

The leaseholder of fields by the A605 near Lilford was been the first to be helped by the commissioner's scheme.

Around three tonnes of green waste and vehicle parts was cleared from their land and physical prevention measures to keep fly tippers out are being installed.

The leaseholder, who wished to remain anonymous, said incidents on his land were always frequent and had increased over the last 12 months.

"An excellent scheme set by the commissioner. This kind of fly tipping is a blight on our beautiful county of Northamptonshire," he added.

Landowners are responsible for clearing fly-tipped waste on their land whereas councils collect it on public land and investigate all reports of fly tipping.

East Northamptonshire Council leader Steven North said: “East Northamptonshire Council takes fly-tipping seriously and this project, along with a successful one last autumn, is a prime example of the waste team working hard with partners to prevent future fly tipping.

“We are extremely grateful to all our partners for their help on this project and are pleased that this simple solution has prevented waste being illegally dumped along this particular part of the district.”