A town's estate has seen a 70pc drop in fly tipping after £2,000 of fines were dished out in a crackdown.

Breckland Council is reporting the drop in parts of Thetford, after a campaign helped raise awareness of how to dispose of waste legally.

The campaign was supported by the blitz on serial fly tippers, which resulted in the fixed penalty notices being issued since October 2020.

Before March 2020, the town's Abbey Estate, which is home to over 1,000 properties, had seen on average 100 fly tips per week, equating to 1.5 tonnes of waste.

Following a four-month awareness campaign by Breckland Council, working with waste operators, the estate is now reporting fewer than 30 fly tips per week and the amount of waste being fly tipped has also fallen.

In February 2021 Breckland Council issued five fixed penalty notices to different addresses on the Abbey Estate for fly tipping.

The incidents include dumped sofas, beds, mattresses and general domestic waste, all of which could have been taken to the local Norfolk County Council recycling centre for free.

Officers reported that excuses given for illegally dumping waste in the community green spaces ranged from assuming someone would collect the waste, that they were adding their own waste to existing fly tips, and one culprit said he could be not be bothered to take it to the recycling centre.

In addition to fly tipping cases, an Abbey Estate resident who has also regularly allowed their dog to foul in the area, has been fined £200, rising to £300 if it is not paid promptly.

Breckland enforcement officers will be conducting more high visibility patrols in the areas.

Gordon Bambridge, executive member for environmental and public protection at Breckland Council, said: "Every Breckland resident deserves to live in a community free from litter and waste.

“Our wildlife, whether in a town park or rural setting, also deserves to be protected from the harmful fly tips recklessly left by selfish individuals.

“We still have some way to go, but a 70pc fly tipping reduction and increased public support is certainly an encouraging outcome and I look forward to seeing this success replicated elsewhere in the district."

Breckland residents can report fly tips online at www.breckland.gov.uk/flytip.