VIDEO footage of people littering and fly tipping could be used more to tackle the problem in Blackburn with Darwen, council bosses said.

Borough service lead for public protection and environmental health, Gary Johnston, said at the moment the council does not have the manpower to make the best use of footage sent in by the public.

Cllr Vicky McGurk asked Mr Johnston, at a place overview and scrutiny committee meeting, whether there was a process in place for people to send in evidence of littering and fly-tipping.

“I would be quite interested in people uploading footage to us but I think it is reasonable to say we don’t have a huge amount of capacity,” Mr Johnston said.

“I want to encourage residents but I also don’t want to over-promise.

“In terms of fly-tipping in particular, there are vehicle seizure powers we can use and going forward it is almost inevitable we are going to use that power more.”

Mr Johnston updated members on the work of Kingdom enforcement officers who have been tasked with handing out on the spot fines to people found littering and failing to pick up after their dog since October 2017.

Since then, 7,557 fines have been handed out for littering with a further 44 for dog fouling and 622 for smoke-free offences, while five people have been fined for not having their dog on a lead.

Out of those fines, 1,584 had been sent to court for non-payment with 142 cancelled or withdrawn and 152 pending prosecution.

Kingdom’s contract was this year extended until October 2019.