Anglesey was the worst part of North Wales for fly-tipping last year, it has been revealed.

Data published by the Welsh Government recorded almost 5,800 incidents of fly-tipping across the region's six local authorities between 2017 and 2018.

Overall, £285,248 of public money was spent clearing the waste in North Wales.

Of the 5,764 instances reported across the region, more than 27% were in Anglesey , followed closely by Conwy with more than 26% of the overall total.

Wrexham was the area with the fewest instances of fly-tipping in Wales, making up just under 4% of all incidents.

Conwy council was the authority which faced the biggest bill, after it was forced to spend more than £81,000 clearing up dumped waste.

Graham Goodier, 26 from Colwyn Bay was given an eight week suspended sentence for fly-tipping in woodland. Pictured are mattresses dumped at Bryndansi woods
Fly-tipping at Bryndansi woods in Llanelian

Last year, there were 35,434 instances of fly-tipping reported overall in Wales, costing taxpayers more than £1.8m to clear up.

While this is lower than previous years, just 72 people were prosecuted and four people were sent to jail.

Of the incidents reported in Wales, 25,426 were investigated, 2,577 warning letters were sent out and 1,622 fines were issued.

Today, the Welsh Government is expected to approve new rules which make it easier for councils and Natural Resources Wales to take action against householders who hand their waste to people not authorised to handle it.

People who give their waste to someone "in good faith" who then fly-tips it could now face a fixed penalty notice of £300.

Currently, householders can be issued with a fixed penalty notice if they fly-tip their domestic waste themselves.

Here is a breakdown of flytipping in North Wales' six counties

Anglesey

There were  1,567  cases reported to Anglesey council between 2017 and 2018 - the highest figure in North Wales.

Despite being forced to spend £66,532 clearing up dumped waste last year, the island did see a decrease in incidents of 22% between 2016 and 2017.

The cost was mainly spent on small van loads of rubbish, but nothing was spent on clearing black bag waste (general household refuse).

Overall last year, the council handed out 51 warning letters and 19 fines, but nobody was prosecuted, Wales Online reports .

The areas with the highest number of fly-tipping incidents were Holyhead / Rhosneigr , Aberffaw /Llangaffo and Newborough .

Conwy

In Conwy, 1,540  instances of fly-tipping were reported to the authorities last year - an increase of 13% from between 2016 and 2017.

The council spent £81,464 removing waste. Not even 1% was used clearing black bag waste (general household refuse), but almost half of the total spend was used removing small van loads of rubbish.

Overall, it carried out 341 investigations, sent 41 warning letters and gave three formal cautions.

Last month, it was reported that a pair of brothers who set up an illegal dump which ended up causing a plague of rats were spared jail.

Raymond Murray and Ian Murray, 53, admitted operating a waste business without permission from their home in Kinmel Bay .

When the dump got out of hand, more than 123 tonnes of rubbish built up.

They each received a 10-month jail sentence suspended for two years and 200 hours of community service.

The council argues increased fly-tipping is a national trend and the biggest problem is not black bin waste but bulky household items such as white goods and furniture.

Denbighshire

Fly-tipping near Llanarmon-yn-Ial, Denbighshire
Fly-tipping near Llanarmon-yn-Ial

 

In Denbighshire , 1,207 reports of fly-tipping were recorded by the council who said most of these were small amounts of rubbish. The number is an increase of more than 20% from the previous year.

Of these, 642 were investigated and 26 resulted in warning letters being sent.

The council also said three large fly-tipping offences went before the courts, with all of them resulting in fines.

The total cost of removing fly-tipping in Denbighshire was £35,487 and the area with the highest recorded number of incidents was Rhyl.

During just one week last July, the junk collected by the council weighed a combined 2,700kg and cost them £1,200 to clear.

It spurred officers to take action by educating the public and providing bigger bins for those who needed them.

As a result, the area has seen a dramatic improvement and the number of hot spots has been reduced from 10 to just one .

Flintshire

Fly-tippers left this mound of waste in Higher Kinnerton

 

Flintshire Council received 774 reports of fly-tipping last year - a decrease of just over 3% from the previous year - which cost the tax payer £70,246 .

It did not carry out any enforcement action for any of the offences, meaning no offenders were fined, given warnings or prosecuted.

Of the overall spend, more than half was spent clearing large mounds of fly-tipped waste, around the size of a transit van load, while just £56 was spent clearing black bag waste (general household refuse).

The council said it investigates all cases of fly-tipping and clears it away within 24 hours of it being reported.

But at the moment, it's not able to issue fixed penalty notices to offenders - although it will be introducing this system soon.

Last March, at least eight reports of fly tipping were reported in five weeks in the Higher Kinnerton area .

Most of the industrial waste abandoned consisted of piles of tree shavings, wooden fencing, planks of wood and chopped tree branches and is believed to have been dumped by the same fly-tipper.

County councillor Mike Allport believes the problem comes down to people opting for the cheapest waste removal prices.

Gwynedd

People caught fly-tipping in Gwynedd will be issued with £400 on the spot fines under new powers that came into force on August 1

 

Gwynedd council recorded just 461 instances of fly-tipping last year - a decrease of more than 25 per cent from the previous year - and the second lowest figure in North Wales.

It cost the taxpayer a total of £22,730 to remove and almost 40% of the overall cost was spent clearing fly-tipped waste around the size of a small transit van load.

The local authority carried out 324 investigations, sent out 47 warning letters and issued 49 fixed penalty notices. It said there were no known fly-tipping hotspots in the area.

Wrexham

Wrexham council received the lowest figure across the entire country, with only 215 reports of fly-tipping last year.

Of the 215 cases, the council investigated 34 but no action was taken. It spent £8,789 clearing dumped rubbish across the county overall.

Despite seeing the least incidents, the county did see 15% more dumped waste than the previous year. However, since 2009, Wrexham Council has seen a 93% decrease in fly-tipping incidents.