MORE than two-thirds of Cheshire East fly-tipping incidents last year took place in Crewe, new data shows.

The figures, released after a Freedom of Information Request from the Local Democracy Reporting Service, show where the borough's fly-tipping hotspots are — with Crewe by far and away the worst offender.

Of the 3,235 total incidents recorded in Cheshire East from April 2020 to the end of the year, 2,164 — or 66.9 per cent — were in Crewe. That is seven-and-a-half times more incidents of fly-tipping than were recorded in Macclesfield, the next worst town.

In Alsager there were 86 and in Nantwich 61 incidents.

Now, the council says it has developed a new fly-tipping policy to combat the problem — which it attributes to "poor domestic waste management".

A pilot scheme called 'Cleaner Crewe' is set to start soon to tackle the problems in some streets in the Crewe South ward.

Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services Paul Bayley said: "The council takes any incidents of fly-tipping across the borough extremely seriously and we are particularly focused on this in Crewe, where reported incidents are highest.

"We are taking direct action to address fly-tipping and poor domestic waste management through the launch of a pilot scheme called 'Cleaner Crewe'.

"The scheme will see the council focus on alleyways between streets, where there have been, and still are, problems with poor domestic waste management and fly-tipping.

"Our thorough research has shown that the problem we are dealing with is predominantly around the mismanagement of household waste."

The council says that under the powers of a section 46 notice its enforcement officers can make "the expectations for residents clear, in terms of bin and waste management".

They then can use an approach called the four Es – "engage, educate, encourage, enforce" if those expectations are not followed.

"Over the summer months we will be working with Crewe residents to clean up their town and help encourage civic pride, making this a sustainable approach for everyone," added the environment chief.

Across England, more than one million fly-tips are estimated to take place every year — with Keep Britain Tidy claiming it cost £58 million to clear up the waste in 2016/17 alone.

It is a serious criminal offence and carries the threat of imprisonment or an unlimited fine.