CLEANING teams responsible for clearing away fly-tipped waste are increasing their presence in the worst-hit area of Barnsley in a bid to tidy up its appearance.

Neighbouring Kingstone and Central wards have come under scrutiny after Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) figures revealed they alone had 1,500 reports of dumping in a year and account for a third of the town’s overall amount.

After rats were pictured scavenging among bin bags earlier this month, a call from residents - backed by councillors - was made for action to be taken.

The Chronicle can reveal that a property - which is believed to be unoccupied - has had its yard used as a ‘dump-it site’ and council enforcement bosses have been in touch with its landlord.

Clean-up teams’ presence is being increased, as are visits from pest control staff.

Coun James Higginbottom, cabinet spokesperson for environment and transport, said: “Littering and fly-tipping is an appalling blight on our communities and something we take very seriously, with our teams doing everything they can to clear dumped waste in our borough quickly and bring fly-tippers to justice.

“We’re aware of this particular issue - our domestic waste collection, pest control and town centre cleaning teams are increasing their presence around Burleigh Street, helping us to address this problem and remove fly-tipping quickly.

“We’ve been in contact with the landlord of the building to request that modifications are made to stop residents from fly-tipping their rubbish and will continue working with them to find a solution.

“We will also work closely with the community and with ward councillors to tackle this issue.”