AN agricultural expert is warning of the ‘hidden cost’ of fly-tipping, after it was revealed that councils have spent almost £3m on cleaning up the South West in just 12 months.

Newly-released figures from Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) revealed that more than one million incidents of fly-tipping were dealt with by councils in England in 2016-17, costing taxpayers nationally £58m to clear up.

Every January, councils see a surge in fly-tipping, with rogue residents and traders dumping post-festive waste, including old Christmas trees.

On a regional level, there were 44,745 reported fly-tipping incidents in the South West between April 2016 and March 2017 – an increase of 30 per cent on last year*.

The clean-up cost to taxpayers in the South West totalled £2,704,450.

Cornwall had 4,731 incidents.