Drone pilots trained to catch Sunderland fly-tippers

Drone pilots are being trained to crack down on fly-tipping in Sunderland, the council has said.

Two "eye in the sky" drones will help investigate waste dumping offences and could access "hidden places", it added.

Public Spaces Protection Order powers and on-street cameras will also be used to tackle littering and anti-social behaviour.

There were about 2,500 fly-tipping incidents in the area between August and October.

Councillors were told two drones has been delivered and three members of staff were being trained up to use them, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Sandra Mitchell, assistant director of community resilience, said: "[They] will be really, really important for getting to areas that staff can't get to in terms of fly-tipping.

"A lot of the fly-tippers are very clever and go to 'hidden places' but our drones can go to those places as well."

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