A HALESOWEN resident is demanding action to tackle a spate of fly-tipping on green belt land near her home.

Foxcote Lane has been used to dump rubbish on a regular basis, with drug waste, tyres, oil drums, paint pots and household rubbish all left abandoned.

Marie Drew, along with Cradley and Wollescote councillor Richard Body, is calling on Dudley Council to catch the culprits.

Marie, who lives on nearby Havergal Walk, said: "It's on a weekly basis we are getting rubbish dumped here. We have even had rubbish dumped in the middle of the lane.

"It just makes me angry. The green belt is so beautiful, it's all beautiful woodland and then there's that. It's terrible."

Cllr Body said: "It's happening all the time. Without a deterrent it will keep on happening.

"If you don't do anything it won't go away. If they thought they might get caught then they would not do it."

He says the borough does not have adequate waste disposal facilities. The household waste recycling centre on Birmingham Street, Stourbridge, serves the whole of Dudley Borough although residents in the north of the borough can use Wolverhampton's Anchor Lane centre.

He suggested that, as the tip closed at 4pm six days a week, it was preventing workers from disposing of their rubbish.

He said: "The only time they have to go is on the weekend and join massive queues. That makes no sense, that will encourage residents to tip.

"Only one tip to serve 325,000 residents, something's not right."

Cllr Body called for CCTV to be introduced and suggested a scheme where drivers who captured evidence of people fly-tipping on their dash cam were given a reward.

He said: "We can get bad driving, people throwing litter out of their cars, people up to no good. That's how we cut down on crime."

Fly-tippers have recently struck in Lutley Lane, Wassell Grove Lane and Shelah Road in Halesowen.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: “Fly-tippers not only blight our borough but they also leave the tax-payer footing the bill – something that continually frustrates us.

"We work hard to make sure these people are caught and prosecuted but ultimately we rely on people being the eyes and ears of their communities and reporting issues to us.

"We have a limited amount of CCTV equipment which can yield good results when targeting specific areas and this is something we can certainly look into at this location, by applying to the courts with the necessary evidence to back it up.

“People can report problems to us in a number of ways including online at www.dudley.gov.uk, via social media and using our Dudley Council smartphone app.

“There really is no excuse for people fly-tipping as our household waste recycling centre in Stourbridge site is open seven days a week, 362 days a year. It is also open until 6pm on Thursdays during the summer months for people who work during the day.”