A Bedfordshire man has been fined nearly £1,000 after admitting to fly-tipping a large amount of waste in Letchworth’s Wilbury Hills.

Jamie Johnson of Hillfoot Road, Shillington, pleaded guilty to failing in his duty of care to dispose of waste appropriately.

He appeared at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court via video link on September 8.

Fly-tipped waste belonging to Johnson was discovered at the Wilbury Hills picnic area.

The waste included paving, plasterboard, outer cover for cabling, tyres, car parts, wood, gas canisters and numerous other items.

The items were traced back to Mr Johnson by North Herts District Council’s Community Protection Team after details of his name and address were found among the waste.

It is unclear exactly who was responsible for fly-tipping the waste, but because it belonged to Johnson, it was his responsibility to make sure it was disposed of legally.

Johnson was fined £400 by the court, ordered to pay £500 towards costs and a victim surcharge of £40 – a total of £940.

Cllr Judi Billing, NHDC’s executive member for community engagement, said: “There seems to be a never-ending cycle of fly-tipping lately and clean-up costs are very costly to the council taxpayer.

“Please make sure any waste, either domestic or business, is disposed of safely and legally and if you pay someone to remove it on your behalf, always check to see if they have a waste carrier’s licence from the Environment Agency because if they don’t, and it is fly-tipped, you are still responsible for it and can be prosecuted.”

NHDC is part of the Hertfordshire Fly-Tipping Group, made up of Herts police, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, the Environment Agency, the National Farmers Union, Keep Britain Tidy, and other councils in Hertfordshire.

The group recently ran a county-wide campaign calling on residents and businesses to ‘S.C.R.A.P fly-tipping’ by following an easy-to-remember, five-step checklist when arranging one-off waste collections.

To check if a waste carrier has an Environment Agency waste carrier licence, go to environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers.