Town has 932 fly-tipping cases in nine months
BBCAlmost 1,000 fly-tipping cases were recorded in a town in nine months, council data has revealed.
Westmorland and Furness Council said between 1 April and 31 December 2024, there were 932 instances of fly-tipping in the Barrow area, which included recovering asbestos and animal carcasses.
During the same period there were 177 fly-tipping incidents in Eden and 120 in the South Lakes.
Councillor Anne Burns it "has got to stop", while urging residents to report any fly-tipping to the authority immediately.
The council revealed there were 28 cases dealing with animal carcasses and three with asbestos being dumped in the Barrow area.
There were also 297 which required a tipper lorry load to clear up, at a cost of £165 to the council each time, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
'Not a victimless crime'
Councillor Ms Burns said: "We want Barrow to be a better place, we want it to be spruced up, we want it to be good, we want clean streets, but it isn't the council that throws litter down, it's everyone's responsibility really.
"We can't just leave people to dump rubbish where they think they can do."
A spokesperson for the council said fly-tipping was "not a victimless crime", and added the "financial cost of clearance, disposal and investigation is ultimately borne by the council tax payers".
The council said it would investigate every case of fly-tipping reported.
The maximum penalty for fly-tipping that can be imposed by the courts is a £50,000 fine and up to five years in prison for the most serious offences.