Fly-tipping incidents have soared by 7% over the past year – excluding the number of cases on private land.

For the 2016/17 year, local authorities in England dealt with around 1 million (1,002,000) fly-tipping incidents, according to Defra statistics.

Local councils spent an estimated £57.7m clearing up fly-tipped waste during the year, carrying out 474,000 enforcement at a cost of £16m.

The number of fixed penalty notices issued increased by 56% to 56,000 in 2016/17

This is now the second most common enforcement action after investigations and accounted for 12% of all enforcement actions in 2016/17.

Landowners, farmers and rural businesses – who frequently face having to clear up rubbish fly-tipped on private land, said it was a blight on the countryside.

CLA President Ross Murray said: “Fly-tipping is just getting worse and worse.”

The situation was a national disgrace, said Mr Murray. Prosecutions for fly-tipping were ludicrously low, and have decreased by a further 25%, he added.

Mr Murray said: “It is high time that government took a much more active role in tackling this blight on the countryside.

“Today’s shocking figures don’t even include rubbish fly-tipped on private land, which landowners clear up as local authorities only clear from public land.

“Greater penalties should be imposed and enforced including seizing fly-tippers’ vehicles, and victims should be better supported.

“We are calling for the appointment of a national fly-tipping Tsar to co-ordinate and oversee a more pro-active effort to get to grips with this national disgrace.”

Results from a survey conducted by Farmers Weekly and CLA Insurance revealed that almost two thirds of farmers and landowners have been affected by fly-tipping.

Over half of respondents agreed that fly-tipping was a significant issue in their area, with most victims surveyed saying they had been targeted on multiple occasions.

The full Defra statistics are available here.