FLY-TIPPING cost council tax payers in York thousands of pounds more than compared with the previous 12 months - even though the number of incidents went down.

Government figures show £5,500 more was spent by City of York Council cleaning up after fly-tippers, even though there were 42 fewer incidents.

The council spent a total of £82,589 clearing up 1,697 tips in 2006-7, but £76,951 cleaning up 1,739 incidents in 2005-6.

Jackie Armitage, senior environmental health officer at the council, said: "This year we have experienced more large incidents that cost more to clear. This is in part due to accumulations of tipping in certain areas.

"We recruited two officers to deal specifically with tipping in 2007 and already we have seen a decrease in incidents."

Coun Andrew Waller, executive member for neighbourhood services, said the difference in spending also reflected the use of new technology to identify tippers.

He said: "We are using all of the available technology, for example we have a mobile CCTV camera to gather evidence.

"Where we have the evidence, we will prosecute. But we have to catch the person doing it or get some information that connects it to the individual.

"We have started to issue fines, which are not covered by prosecutions. Fines send a direct message but mean that an individual householder does not end up with a criminal record."

He added: "Fly tipping is one of the more serious aspects of the street scene that we have been investigating. While we are not as bad as some areas, we are not allowing this to take root."

One much-used spot for fly-tipping was identified in The Press in September, when residents and councillors issued an urgent plea for the site of the former Promenade Working Men's Club, in St Benedict Road, to be cleared up.

The site has been derelict for two years, and has become a target for rubbish dumping and vandalism.

A council spokeswoman said the authority launched one fly-tipping prosecution in 2006-7, but the defendant was found not guilty.

The council also issued one formal caution and nine warnings in 2006-7, with one so far in 2007-8.

The Environment Agency, which works with the council to clear bigger, more dangerous fly-tips, has also seen a fall in illegal waste dumping in York.

Figures are not yet available for 2006-7, but in 2004-5 there were 16 incidences, which dropped to five in 2005-6.