A study has found Medway is the third worst place in the South East for fly-tipping.

The Towns have had the largest increase in incidents since 2010, despite other areas experiencing a decline.

The figures have been released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). They reveal there were 4,576 incidents of fly-tipping in Medway in 2012/13, a rise of 1,446 incidents since 2010/11.

Southampton was the worst affected, with 7,819 incidents. Hastings was the only other local authority in the top 10 to experience a rise.

Medway Council partly puts the increase down to Kent County Council closing its household waste site to vans and sign-written vehicles to clamp down on illegal trade waste.

There has also been a rise in the number of people reporting incidents because of the Love Medway campaign, whereby people can report fly-tipping via a mobile phone app.

Cllr Peter Hicks, who is in charge of community safety, said: “We are taking action to tackle fly-tipping, and we have mounted a high-profile campaign encouraging people to report incidents.

“There has been an increase in fly-tipping in Medway following last year’s closure of a number of sites to trade waste. However, the overall figure shows a decrease of 29% compared to our base line in 2005.”

The council said it was tackling fly-tipping with a ‘hit squad’ that cleared away rubbish within 12 hours of it being reported.

Since being set up in June, the team has tackled nearly 800 fly-tips and cleared three-quarters of them on the same day. The other 25% were cleared by the council’s contractor as they were larger tips.

Since April, the council has prosecuted eight fly-tipping and waste-related cases, and the courts have handed out £8,787 in fines and charges to offenders. A further 26 cases are pending.

• You can report evidence of fly-tipping at www.medway.gov.uk/lovemedway or email Customer.First@medway.gov.uk or by calling 01634 333333.