Shameless fly-tippers dumped rubbish in the borough more than 25 times a week, government data reveals.

They show council staff dealt with 1,403 reports of fly-tipping costing tens of thousands in just one year.

Gedling Bororough Council says it investigates every report and tried to deal with every incident within 10 days.

The majority of the fly-tips are described as “highway incidents” and “household waste”.

But council staff had to deal with 16 incidents of abandoned asbestos and 44 piles of tyres.

The most recent figures cover the 2021-22 financial year.

The reckless rubbish dumps have left the borough’s residents frustrated.

Chris Cann, a retired library worker from Gedling Village, said: “It’s an issue, I do a lot of litter picking on a voluntary basis, mainly small bits of litter, but occasionally we do come across fly-tips that we can’t deal with.

“They are often in inaccessible places, which is really annoying.

“When it happens, it is just really horrible, it’s ugly and attracts rats and goodness knows what.

“Gedling Borough Council are normally very good, as much as they can do, obviously their hands are tied in what resources they have.

“These people that do it are just awful, because they may think that it’s a victimless crime, but we all suffer from it.

“We pay for it and the state of our countryside pays for it.”

The exact clean-up costs have not been included in the stats since 2016-17.

Based on the amount spent on cleaning incidents in those figures the 2021-22 cost would have been around £70,000.

It is likely with inflation and the recent increases in the cost of energy and materials the true figure is higher.

One local resident suggested more cameras in the borough might deter the dumpers.

Marie Green, 46, from Daisy Dogs and Kitty Cats in Mapperley, said: “I use a lot of Gedling parks and fields.

“As I’m on my little travels around, I’m picking dogs up and taking them to parks, I come across these fly-tips.

“The other week, I came onto a field and thought, what’s that awful smell, it’s like someone had been growing marijuana and dumped all their bags of soil and plants.

“Gedling has some nice little secret fields, little roads and dead ends.

“They know there are no cameras, so they are using them for dumping.”

Marie also feels council staff are quick to respond to new incidents,

She added: “The council comes, clears it away and a couple of days later, they have filled up the space again.

“People that do fly-tip, it would be nicer if got prosecuted a bit more.

“But then again, are we helping people, are there enough tips around?

“We’ve got Calverton tip, but if you go to Calverton, sometimes the road that leads to the actual tip, people dump rubbish on it.

“It is mind-boggling.”

Gedling Borough Council leader Councillor John Clarke explained the council’s approach to fly-tipping saying they investigate every reported incident.

He said: “Fly-tipping is a scourge on our society and a huge cost to taxpayers because of a small minority of people who dispose of their waste illegally.

“We investigate all reports of fly-tipping and will always take enforcement action where we can.

“We have increased the number of fixed penalty notices we have issued year on year and we clear 99 per cent of all incidents within 10 days of reporting.

“We rely on residents to report fly-tipping if they see it happening, so we urge them to contact us and we can investigate and catch the perpetrators.” 

The council issued 31 fines over the incidents and took one case to court for prosecution.