AN increase in flytipping in the Malmesbury area over the past few months is causing fury among residents.

Residents are questioning whether Wiltshire Council is doing enough to deter the illegal dumping of waste.

And some are claiming it is the result of reduced opening hours, harder accessiblity and stricter guidelines at recycling centres.

Just this week, resident Maggie Rawsthorne spotted flytipped waste on Monday on the A429 near Hullavington.

Lisa Tweedie, who runs the Make Malmesbury Even Better Facebook page, says there has been a steep rise in flytipping in recent months.

“I have been running this page for eight-and-a-half years and we have had maybe two or three complaints in that time,” she said.

“Over the past couple of months we have had at least ten complaints, if not more.

“Some of them are farmers saying that this is happening on a weekly basis and it is really getting on their nerves.”

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Council insisted a lot of work was being done to prevent the activity.

In fact they said there had been a decrease in recent reports in Malmesbury.

“When comparing the last two months, April and May, against February and March, we saw a 29 per cent decrease for the Malmesbury Community Area,” they said.

“Currently there is a downward trend in flytipping across the county. Household Recycling Centres accept household waste only and our data suggests that the majority of fly tips are of a commercial nature based on the size of deposits. small van or larger, and that these are conducted by unlicensed commercial operators.”

Report fly tipping at bit.ly/2rrZTU8