Complaints from residents led to a Llanbister fly-tipper receiving a £400 fixed penalty notice, with the council warning they are 'stepping up' their efforts on illegal rubbish dumping.

Powys County Council say the offender dumped six black bin bags full of rubbish at Minerva Close, Llandrindod Wells earlier this year.

Local residents provided vital intelligence which linked the waste to the offender, who was tracked down by the council’s Waste Awareness and Enforcement Team and issued with a £400 fixed penalty notice.

The man accepted the fixed penalty notice and paid £200 as an early repayment option is available if the fine is paid within 14 days.

Six fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping offences have now been issued since the Welsh Government approved the Unauthorised Deposit of Waste (Fixed Penalties) (Wales) Regulations 2017 last November.

The authority are now warning people that they are stepping up their enforcement activities and anyone found fly-tipping could be issued with a fixed penalty notice or prosecuted in more serious cases.

Cllr Phyl Davies, Cabinet Member for Recycling and Waste, said: "Fly-tipping is a criminal office which blights our communities, harms our environment and costs taxpayers money.

"We are working hard to educate residents and businesses of the correct ways to dispose of their waste and prevent them misusing the service. However, we are stepping up our enforcement activities to clamp down on those who dispose of their waste inappropriately.

"We hope this will act as a warning to show that we will investigate this anti-social behaviour and take the appropriate enforcement action.

"We want to make Powys a more welcoming place for residents and visitors, and this starts by having a clean environment."

Clean-up operations undertaken as a result of fly-tipping costs tax payers in Wales more than £2m per year annually, according to statistics provided by campaign group Fly Tipping Action Wales.

In 2016/17 over 38,500 fly-tipping incidents were recorded in Wales.