COUNCIL tax payers in Birmingham had to fork out £8 million in the past year to clean up 36,000 tonnes of waste dumped illegally across the city.

In the 12 months to March 2011 Birmingham City Council dealt with 12,713 incidents where tyres, building waste, furniture and general household waste was dumped on public land.

Enforcement officers served 1,776 legal notices ordering owners to clean up waste on private land were issued.

Despite a crackdown it is feared fly-tipping could escalate in the face of further cost cuts.

Sparkbrook is one area which has suffered problems. Ward councillor Salma Yaqoob said: “There has been some improvement, we have done resident litter picks but when we investigated the rubbish being dumped, it was actually people coming from outside the area dumping them which was a bit of a shock.

“My worry is especially with these cuts if the services are reduced in any way then this problem will return. We have put so much effort into getting the streets cleaner.

“There were some clean-ups on Anderton Road and we found normal household rubbish was being dumped from outside the area, which seems so bizarre.