COUNCIL bosses in Swindon have called for stiffer penalties for fly tippers after the government revealed alarming figures about illegal dumping.

Rubbish is dumped somewhere in England every 35 seconds and costs local authorities £100 per minute to clear up.

That is the startling extent of the problem, according to Flycapture, a new database set up by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

John Short, director of Swindon Services, said: "Fly tipping is a problem and a difficult one for the council to tackle.

"We do respond to reports of fly tipping and rubbish dumping and clear away where we can.

"Bringing prosecutions against fly tippers is incredibly difficult and we would welcome increased powers and resources from the Government to do this.

"Stiffer penalties for those who do fly tip would also be welcome."

Mr Short believes that education also plays an important role in beating the problem.

He said: "We must educate younger people about the best ways to dispose of and recycle their rubbish so that future generations will consider fly tipping socially unacceptable.

"In the meantime, I would urge all local people to take responsibility for reporting incidents of fly tipping and help the council combat this issue."

Coun Justin Tomlinson (Con, Abbey Meads), lead member for Swindon Services, said: "This is a disappointing figure.

"It's a case of the law-abiding majority footing the bill.

"We have to look at every way to tackle fly tipping. It's a real menace.

"On the one hand we have to quickly react to any case of fly tipping.

"On the other hand we have to push for the full force of the law to punish those who do fly tip."

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said the information gathered on Flycapture would help authorities focus their efforts on stamping out illegal dumping.

In November Mark Howse, a 36-year-old motorbike courier from Fairford, was caught on CCTV dumping bags of rubbish onto a disused railway line on the Fairford to Lechlade road.

He was ordered to pay £750 compensation and £1,000 court costs.

And last March Roger Trimmer, a haulage boss from Covingham, was fined £15,000 with £3,000 costs for allowing his employees to dump more than 60 tonnes of rubble into a field entrance near Badbury, between Swindon and Aldbourne, near the ancient Ridgeway path.

Dave Andrew