A NORTH Yorkshire MP has called on the Government to increase punishment of flytippers.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, praised the work of Selby District Council in prosecuting flytippers in the area, but said the fines handed out to them by the courts were not high enough.

He said: "Fines of a few hundred pounds per incident do not reflect the cost of the crime and I will be calling for stiffer penalties for those found guilty of this offence."

Two recent prosecutions in locations near Appleton Roebuck and Church Fenton for dumping of household waste - including electrical appliances, chairs, a bike - and building materials were reported by witnesses and led to fines and other costs totalling £846 and £520 respectively.

Cllr Richard Musgrave said: "Fly tippers cause a blight on our district and these incidents have a significant impact on residents and communities, and costs the council, and therefore our rate-payers, thousands of pounds a year."

Mr Adams said flytipping cost councils and landowners more than £50m nationally each year in clean up costs, and said he has now written to Michael Gove, appealing for fines to be reviewed and for penalties to be set at a higher level, as they have been done for animal cruelty.

He said: "Recent statistics show that there were 936,000 incidents in a 12 month period and two thirds of these were illegal dumping of domestic rubbish.

"We need to get tough on this crime with better reporting systems, more prosecutions and higher penalties which reflect the total cost of dealing with the crime."

Selby District Council has an online reporting system for fly tipping at selby.gov.uk