PENALTIES for fly-tipping in Basildon will rise to £400, double the current fine and the maximum allowed by law.

Basildon Council approved increases in fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and littering at a Leisure and Environments Committee meeting. For littering, the fine will go up to £120, according to a council report.

Chairing the meeting, Cllr Craig Rimmer (Con, Pitsea South East) said the rises were "overdue" and that the council would be "coming down hard" on fly-tippers.

He also said moving to stronger penalties was needed partly because of the council's discount policy.

He said: "There is this discount policy that we have as a council that if you pay within a set period then you do get the discount, and unfortunately what's been happening is that the discount has looked quite favourable to what they've had to pay to hire a skip and they're thanking people who are fining them and enforcing that fine."

The fine for fly-tipping will now be reduced to £250 if paid in the first 10 days, and for littering it will go down to £75 if paid in the first 10 days.

However, concern was raised at the meeting that fly-tipping needed to be more of a focus for the enforcement team instead of littering.

Cllr Kerry Smith (Ind, Nethermayne) said: "It should be for these serial fly-tippers who think that a communal green or a pretty ornamental tree is where they dump all their old junk, that's where enforcement officers should be.

"I'm not saying smokers or kids dropping crisps are above the law but we need to be going after the bad boys first, the people taking the biscuit with our estates, where we call our homes."

Cllr David Harrison (Wickford Independent, Wickford Park) disagreed, and said all the officer recommendations, including to increase littering fines were "essential".

He said: "If people drop litter, no matter how small it is, that is litter."

According to the report, levels of fly-tipping, as well as the resources given to council's team of Street Scene Education and Enforcement Officers, were consistent until June 2018.

Additionally, the number of abandoned vehicles has increased in recent years.

This has resulted in a reduction in the capacity of the team to enforce fly-tipping and littering and to provide education on council recycling and refuse services.

The report continues to state the likely financial implications of making changes to the fines are "unclear", but could cause an increased need to prosecute offenders following a fixed penalty notice.

An increase in prosecution levels could result in an increase in the resources needed, it continues.