A CAMPAIGN group battling for more to be done about fly-tipping in Derby has called on the city council to accelerate its plans to recruit more residents as "street champions" to help tackle the problem.
Councillor Asaf Afzal, who is responsible for waste, said previously that he wanted to see a quick expansion of the authority's Streetpride Champions scheme.
This followed Derby Telegraph articles revealing the scale of the fly-tipping problem in Normanton, which is blighted by waste, from meat to furniture, being repeatedly dumped in the streets.
Streetpride Champions take responsibility for reporting problems such as fly-tipping and helping with queries from residents about what they should do with different types of rubbish.
On July 10, when Mr Afzal made his comment, there were 16 champions in the Normanton and Arboretum wards. By September 2, there were another 10.
Of these, four were from the Eastern European community, which is known to be the source of some of the fly-tipping.
Dawn Gee, from Normanton Empowerment Team, which is battling against fly-tipping, said the programme needed to be accelerated.
She said: "As this is one of the things the council is pushing as a positive move against fly-tipping, they need to get more numbers.
"I'm wondering if they have marketed it enough?"
Mr Afzal said the council considered it a success whenever anyone agreed to be a street champion.
He said: "We would like to sign up as many as possible.
"Our neighbourhood team engages with residents to encourage them to become street champions, whether through forums, cabinet-on-patrol sessions, street briefings or community events."
The council's website says street champions could also report things like dog fouling and full litter bins.
The authority had previously said that, in the 12 months to March, there were 6,651 incidents of fly-tipping in the city – 5,173 in the Normanton and Arboretum wards.
Mr Afzal has now said that the vast majority of these incidents involved "side waste" being placed next to a bin and then not being taken away.
Rubbish must be inside bins for the collectors to pick it up.
Mr Afzal said: "The current method of data collection is therefore being reviewed so that, in future, a more detailed picture of performance, particularly within fly-tipping, can be given."
Latest statistics available show that, in the period between April 1and August 25, there were 2,364 "waste-related complaints" in Derby, of which 2,015 were in the Normanton and Arboretum wards.
To sign a Derby Telegraph, Derby City Council and Normanton Empowerment Team petition calling for a change of law to help tackle fly-tipping, visit epetitions.direct.gov.uk/ petitions/68218.
