MIDDLEWICH residents have voiced concerns over the issue of fly tipping in Middlewich and across the borough.

A Booth Lane resident contacted the Guardian after an incident where two people gave up their time to collect three bin bags of rubbish dumped along the A533 towards Sandbach.

Cheshire East Council has moved to tackle the issue, launching an amnesty scheme in order to gather information while helping people correctly dispose of their rubbish.

Janet Chisholm, of Middlewich Clean Team, said: “There are, from time to time, fly tipping issues within the Middlewich area and we very rapidly hand it to Cheshire East Council. Within 24 hours it is moved.

“If you leave rubbish then you can guarantee that someone will think ‘that is alright’ and they will leave their things.

“Fly tipping is against the law and it’s spoiling our countryside areas. We are not going to sit back and let it happen.”

Janet and Cheshire East Council say the issue is most prevalent in Crewe, as does Middlewich Town Councillor and Cheshire East Council ward member Bernice Walmsley who warns the issue is also in danger of spiking closer to home.

She said: “Ansa and Cheshire East Council are becoming increasingly concerned at the prevalence of fly tipping throughout the borough and are currently looking at various solutions to the problem including CCTV, enforcement and education.

“I must say that Ansa’s street cleansing department are always very responsive when we alert them to fly tipping in Middlewich.

“It is imperative that fly tip is removed promptly as, if left, it is quickly joined by more and more dumped rubbish.

“The simple solution would, of course, be for everyone to either find a bin – and we have quite a lot now in Middlewich – or take their rubbish home with them.”

Cllr Walmsley and the Clean Team advise people to follow borough guidelines in alerting them as soon as they spot litter in Middlewich, at which point Ansa send out response teams to collect it.

Cheshire East served 69 fixed penalty notices for environmental crime between April 2015 and March 2016.