TOWN hall bosses are hailing a surge in fly-tipping prosecutions — as figures lay bare the £800,000 cost to Bolton over the last three years.

An extra £1.3 million was committed to tackle littering in the last budget, and five new teams have been established to help educate residents as well as bring them to book.

Figures revealed under Freedom of Information laws show that 4,903 incidents of fly-tipping were reported to Bolton Council in 2014-15 — a 12 per cent hike on the previous year and 63 per cent more than in 2012-13.

There were among more than 12,000 cases reported in the last three years, with the total clear-up cost amounting to £818,000.32, according to the figures.

Of those cases, only 102 resulted in court prosecutions between 2012 and 2015 — but the number of prosecutions has gone up since April.

In the first four months of the current financial year, 32 people have been prosecuted in the courts for offences relating to rubbish dumping, while 78 fixed penalty notices were also issued in that period.

Cllr Nick Peel said: "We must deal with what occurs anyway, whether it's one case or 100, and this expansion of a successful pilot will see operational staff given the ability to carry out education and enforcement rather than continuing to repeatedly clean up fly-tipping and litter.

"The message must go out loud and clear that this type of anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated in Bolton.

"If you litter and fly-tip, you will face the consequences. We will find you and we will bring you to task."

Central to the council's plan has been to educate people about how best to dispose of waste, and 52 per cent of incidents reported in the last two months have been dealt with either by education or enforcement.

Officers have also visited 96 businesses in Bolton since May to conduct commercial waste checks.

Of those, 10 were fined £300 for breaching rules, 19 took out trade waste contracts and 14 signed up to council trade waste service.

This has generated more than £6,500 in income for the council.

Among convictions featured previously reported by The Bolton News was that of Rosalia Siwak, who dumped about 100 bags of rubbish on the banks of the River Croal.

After the waste was reported, pictures showed rats crawling through the bin bags.

Siwak, aged 46, of Gibraltar Street, Deane, was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay the landowner £800 in compensation.

Meanwhile, removal man Bradley Oliver was left counting the cost of a £2,000 court bill after dumping piles of rubbish he had been hired to dispose of.

Oliver, aged 28, of Church Street, Westhoughton, left the waste in commercial bins in Daubhill, and transported it without having a licence.

An Environment Department spokesman said: "Fly-tipping blights communities and poses a risk to human health which is why tackling this issue is a priority for government.

"We want everyone to enjoy a cleaner, healthier country and will build on our recent successes by introducing fixed penalty notices for small scale fly-tipping."