Secret cameras to catch Walsall fly-tippers
Secret spy cameras will be used to tackle fly-tipping in Walsall under new plans revealed by the council.
Walsall Council has spent £345,000 cleaning up rubbish dumped in the borough over the last two years and bosses now want to spend £4,000 on eight devices to covertly record offenders.
Each will be positioned in dumping hotspots around Walsall in the next few months and moved around to cope with demand.
Some of the council cash will also be used to pay for hides, filters, lenses, batteries and for the cameras, which will be disguised to blend in with their surroundings.
The council currently uses Domehawk cameras which are fitted onto lampposts but they are clearly visible.
Walsall Council leader Sean Coughlan said the new cameras would be much harder to spot.
He said: "These cameras are new to us. We don't have any of them at the moment.
"We use the Domehawk cameras at the moment but they can be seen as they are put on lampposts.
"These new cameras can be moved around to different areas, to the hotspots where they are needed."
The cameras will gather important indisputable evidence and help increase prosecutions, bosses say.
Figures from the authority show that items including bags of rubbish and commercial waste were dumped on more than 5,000 occasions between 2012 and 2014.
Hotspots across the borough include Goscote Lodge Crescent and Slacky Lane. Commercial waste is continuing to be dumped in both streets.
Another site attracting unwanted illegal dumping of waste is the site of the former Cavalcade pub in Stroud Avenue, Willenhall.
A report to the North Walsall area panel, which met in the week, says it has been happening on a weekly basis.
Walsall Council is having to make cuts to the budget of £39million over the next year as part of the £85m it needs to save over the next four years.
Up to 200 jobs are being axed, some children's centres are closing and council tax has been increased by 1.99 per cent.
It is hoped money obtained from the court fines of any prosecutions made using evidence from the cameras will help recoup the money spent on buying and installing them.
