FIGURES we are revealing today show that the scourge of fly-tipping has substantially increased across the five local authority areas in our patch.

And, according to Welsh Government statistics, in the year 2016-2017 the five councils had taken 5,019 actions against fly-tippers.

This is a huge burden by any count.

The actions taken include everything from warning letters to injunctions. These figures do not include the new on-the-spot fines which councils have been able to issue since October this year.

Of course the increase in actions may be proof that councils are cracking down more than ever on offenders, and we know that there has been a determination to do so in some areas.

But we also suspect that at least part of the increase will be down to a growing number of incidents.

We have all seen fly-tipping and it is not restricted to just one area.

We welcome the fact that our local authorities are putting so much energy into trying to combat the problem but at the end of the day there is now excuse for it and in our view those who carry out the fly-tipping should be made to pay for the clean up operation.

Let’s hope the new system of on-the-spot fines will soon start to bite.