Fly-tipping in Norwich cost taxpayers almost �200,000 last year, according to new figures.

Norwich City Council received more than 5,500 reports of rubbish being illegally dumped in 2010/11, but none of the cases resulted in a successful prosecution in the courts.

The statistics come from a Freedom of Information request by the Countryside Alliance, which has warned that fly-tipping is likely to get worse because of council cutbacks.

Figures show that the city council also spent more than �30,000 on enforcement action on more than 800 fly-tipping cases.

Officials from the council added that they were seeing a downwards trend in fly-tipping incidents in recent years.

The Countryside Alliance has called for tougher littering sentences, more help for landowners, and the ringfencing of rising landfill tax money to help local authorities meet the problem head on.

A spokesman for Norwich City Council said: 'There are plenty of ways to get rid of waste properly and responsibly and if anyone needs advice on how to dispose of waste they should contact their local council; there is no excuse for it.'

'We would encourage anybody to report fly-tipping to us so we can get it removed quickly, and if there is enough evidence we will prosecute. We work to identify fly-tipping 'hot spots' and work with people nearby to combat the problem.'

The Norfolk council with the most number of fly-tipping cases last year was Great Yarmouth Borough Council, which received almost 7,000 complaints and spent more than �350,000 cleaning up the mess, which resulted in just seven successful prosecutions.

At Broadland District Council, 770 instances of fly-tipping were recorded, which cost the council �36,304 to dispose of and resulted in 746 enforcement actions. There were no successful prosecutions and nothing received in fines.

South Norfolk Council received 703 fly-tipping reports, which cost �45,482 to clean up.

John Fuller, leader of South Norfolk Council, said that whilst the numbers of offenders going to court were low, councils were dealing with fly-tippers in other ways.

'We have had a handful of cases go to the magistrates and crown court in the last two or three years and nowadays we are doing an awful lot of fixed penalty notices and they are not included in the figures.

'We also use restorative justice where if someone cannot pay, we make them go out with the fly-tipping team and pick up litter for the morning,' he said.

Have you got a council story? Call Dan Grimmer on 01603 772375 or email dan.grimmer@archant.co.uk