A NEW scheme - which aims to increase prosecution rates for those dumping waste in a bid to act as a deterrent and reduce soaring incidents - has been launched in the town’s worst-hit area.

Following a motion submitted by Barnsley’s Liberal Democrat group to the council, it has now been confirmed that a project to tackle the blight of fly-tipping in Kingstone is set to begin.

The council are set to start a trial period which will see an environmental enforcement contractor proactively pursuing all fly-tipping incidents across the ward.

After the pilot is finished, the effectiveness of the scheme will be looked at by the council to see if it could be rolled-out long-term across the rest of the borough.

Kingstone’s ward councillors have long been campaigning for tougher measures for those who illegally dump waste on the streets.

It has been revealed that Kingstone is officially the town’s worst area for recorded waste with four of its streets Blenheim Road, St George’s Road, Castle Street and Day Street all appearing in the top eight worst-hit in the town.

The cost of collecting and disposing of illegally dumped waste rose sharply to £429,397 last year, an increase of more than £130,000 on the previous year.

The councillors have been campaigning for tougher fines for those found responsible after just 32 people were handed fixed penalty notices last year, despite almost 6,000 reports of fly-tipping being logged.

Councillors Steve Bullcock, Ian Guest and Phillip Wright told the Chronicle the scheme will hopefully improve the number of prosecutions for fly-tipping in the area.

In a joint statement they added: “As a ward team, and a wider Lib Dem group, we have been pushing consistently to tackle the issue of and improve fly-tipping across the borough.

“From new ways of prevention from the motion brought to the council by then Councillor Chris Wray and Steve Bullcock, to a strong push for the need of additional enforcement to punish those who would pollute our communities.

“We are pleased that this trial will be happening in Kingstone, which has more cases than any other part of Barnsley.

“Unfortunately, we get every form of fly-tipping, from illegally dumped commercial waste, to household waste, which can also include black bags full of food, or damaged grey bins just abandoned, inevitably attracting vermin.”

They are hoping that the pilot will make residents’ lives better.

“More than just increasing vermin, which has can spread disease and damage public health, the dumping of any waste has a detrimental impact through an increase of antisocial behaviour, as well as giving the council significant costs in clean-up, little of what is recovered from those dumping waste,” they said.

“As a wider team the Lib Dems have and always will focus on making our communities better places to live - and we will keep working hard on our priority of building a better Barnsley.”

Councillor Paul Kelly, cabinet spokesperson for environment, transport and communities, said: “Over the next three months, we’re running a pilot fly tipping scheme in Kingstone Ward, aiming to manage the high numbers of fly tipping incidents in the area.

“The pilot seeks to develop our partnership with current environmental enforcement contactor, WISE, who already spend a lot of time in the Kingstone area due to the high volumes of litter.

“Through the scheme, WISE will extend their enforcement services in Kingstone to include fly tipping.

“The pilot is of no additional cost to the council and increase efficiency in responding to complaints in the area, freeing up our wardens time to deal with other priorities.”