With the cost of dealing with fly-tipping in Norfolk topping £1m a year, councillors will soon be discussing whether to support the delivery of a new campaign.

North Norfolk News: Fly tipping in the Lowestoft area. Photo: Lynn MummeryFly tipping in the Lowestoft area. Photo: Lynn Mummery (Image: Lynn Mummery)

The talks, held on Friday, September 7, are hoped to produce a plan to address illegal dumping of waste in the country.

Councillor Martin Wilby, chairman of the county council's environment, development and transport committee, said: 'It's shocking that year after year around 90pc of fly-tipped waste that is tipped illegally in the countryside or dumped on our streets could have been left at a recycling centre for free.

'Fly-tipping leads to completely unnecessary and avoidable costs that we all have to bear.

'We want to cut the amount of rubbish being illegally dumped in the county so I'd like to see a coordinated campaign bringing everybody together to fight it and make a difference.

'We know a lot of fly-tipped waste is large van loads of items so one of the things we'd like to do is explain how people can avoid employing an unlicensed trader to take waste away.

'It's important for us to help people to make good choices when deciding how to dispose of their waste legally whether they choose to take it to the tip, hire a skip, or employ someone to take their waste away.'

A campaign would be based on the successful one developed by the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, which saw a significant drop of 17.9pc in the number of incidents in the first year.

At the environment, development and transport committee meeting members will also consider a number of other items.

This will include whether Norfolk County Council should adopt the River Wensum Strategy to maximise the potential of the river to drive economic and environmental improvements within Norwich.

If members agree next week it could be the first step towards a campaign run in partnership with authorities across the county.

The intention is that Norfolk County Council would initially agree an approach on a campaign with all the local authorities in the Norfolk Waste Partnership, so that work can then progress with other organisations via the Norfolk Waste Enforcement Group, which brings together all Norfolk's local authorities and the Environment Agency.