CCTV could be introduced at fly-tipping hotspots across the town.

Dealing with fly-tipping usually costs Warrington Borough Council around £600,000 a year.

Waste was dumped on Cobden Street, off Orford Lane, in one of the latest incidents.

It has angered Cllr Tony Higgins (LAB – Fairfield and Howley), cabinet member for leisure and community.

He said: “There is absolutely no excuse to dump rubbish on our streets – to leave bags around recycling bins isn’t helpful but encourages further dumping of bin bags and household items, creating a mountain of waste.

“Residents are rightly angered by such thoughtless acts and have contacted me to express their growing concerns.

“With more residents now working from home and schools now closed, there is more household waste being created but this should be managed better by the appropriate recycling bins that we all have.

“If you need to dispose of larger items then you have a number of options to either organise a council removal or take them to your nearest recycling centre – not, as we are witnessing, by dumping them on our streets.

“Residents are also demanding CCTV to catch the culprits and to gather valuable evidence to support possible prosecutions.

“I think this is a sensible direction and, frankly, if using CCTV helps in the fight against fly-tipping then I fully support its implementation.

“Residents rightfully feel angered by this growing issue and deserve to live in a clean, tidy environment free from fly-tipping and its associated mess.”

Cllr Higgins will be discussing the possibility of CCTV with officers and assessing whether enough funds are available.

Cllr Bob Barr, leader of the town’s Liberal Democrats, has also expressed his views on the situation.

He said: “Fly-tipping remains a constant concern for most Warrington residents who want to live in a clean, green and attractive town.

“A tiny minority inflict unacceptable costs on the rest of the community because of their anti-social acts.

“However, it is not as easy as it should be for those who want to do the right thing to do so.

“Continuous cuts to council funding have left us with too few collections from waste bins at times of peak usage and too few community recycling and waste sites other than the three major community sites which are only usable by those who have transport.

“Apart from bulky waste, there is no easy to access paid-for waste collection service which would make it a lot easier to do the right thing. Community clean-up days with free skips are not as common as they used to be.

“Enforcement and detection, including CCTV, have a role to play, as well as heavy fines when perpetrators are caught as a deterrent.

“However, the carrot of easy disposal of waste at moderate cost should be available too.”

Warrington and Halton Green Party leader Lyndsay McAteer says she is strongly in favour of enforcement measures and thinks they would need to be rigorously applied.

But she believes there is a lot more that can be done to tackle the issue in the meantime.

The party confirmed it would put together an action plan to tackle fly-tipping with recommendations including revisiting the cost of removing bulky waste, leafleting in hotspot areas to explain ways to remove waste and fly-tipping penalties, ‘amnesty days’ when waste can be removed at no cost, community skips made available at convenient sites and the introduction of CCTV at some locations.

Ms McAteer has urged people to ‘love where you live’.

She added: “Fly-tipping is a massive problem in Warrington. Sadly, the problem seems to be getting worse.

“I think there are plenty of things that can be done to try and improve the situation.

“I realise that Cllr Tony Higgins is passionate about this situation but merely grandstanding about the problem every few months is not going to change anything.

“It’s important that we all take pride in where we live. Community development and community cohesion will help ensure this happens. Warrington Borough Council needs to remember that this is at the heart of the matter.”