NO court action was taken against fly-tippers dumping their rubbish in Colchester, figures have revealed.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs data shows 2,357 fly-tipping incidents were reported to Colchester Council in 2020-21.

This was a 43 per cent increase on the 1,649 discoveries made the year before. However, no fines resulting from court convictions were issued in the area last year – and none were issued in 2019-20.

The council also carried out no enforcement actions in 2020-21.

Colchester saw 12 fly-tipping incidents per 1,000 people last year – which was below the average across England, of 20.1.

A spokesman for Colchester Council said: “Fly-tipping is classed as a bulk dumping of a material and a fixed penalty notice can only be issued where we have proof about where the flytip came from.

“This can be done by either catching them in the act of flytipping or else finding something in or with the dumped material or black bag to identify the household.”

Across England, a record 1.1million incidents of rubbish dumped on highways and beauty spots were found in 2020-21, up from 980,000 the previous year.

But the number of court fines halved from 2,672 to just 1,313 – with their total value decreasing from £1.2million to £440,000.

The Country Land and Business Association, which represents rural businesses, said the vast majority of fly-tipping occurs on private land, which the figures do not cover.

Mark Tufnell, president of the association, said: “These figures do not tell the full story of this disgraceful behaviour which blights our beautiful countryside.

“Fly-tipping continues to wreck the lives of many of us living and working in the countryside – and significant progress needs to be made to stop it.

“It’s not just the odd bin bag but large household items, from unwanted sofas to broken washing machines, building materials and even asbestos.”

Figures also showed no-one was prosecuted for the 1,991 incidents of fly-tipping reported in the Tendring district.

Tendring councillor Carlo Guglielmi said: “One primary reason for not fining people is that we engage, explain and encourage to try to resolve the issue before we enforce.

“Fines or prosecutions are a last resort, and I would not want to see this number be high.”