The maximum penalty for fly tipping fines has doubled for one borough.

People caught dumping waste in Swale will now face a fine of up to £1,000 as part of a council’s crackdown on fly-tipping and littering.

It marks a rise of £600 from last year’s £400 penalty – a 150% hike for the most serious offenders.

Meanwhile, there is also an increase in charges for the most serious littering offences which will now see £500 fines dished out, up from £150 – a 233.33% increase.

Lesser littering offences, such as dropping a cigarette butt, have been set to £200 which can be reduced to £150 if paid in full within 14 days.

These changes will come into effect across the Borough including Sittingbourne, the Isle of Sheppey and Faversham from Monday, April 1.

It comes after councillors agreed to new government legislation in its budget meeting on Wednesday, February 28.

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Last year the council issued almost 1,100 fixed penalty notices (FPN) for waste-related offences.

The proceeds are used to support environment-related functions, with a focus on tackling fly-tipping and littering.

This inculded CCTV cameras in fly-tipping hotspots, additional litter bins, and cleanup efforts and funds for the litter enforcement officers who actively combat littering.

The funding also stretched to Op Assist, a joint operation between Kent Police’s rural task force and Swale Borough Council.

It aims to crack down on suspected fly-tipping, collect evidence, and take enforcement action for waste-related crimes.

The operation saw an illegal transporter fined a total of £2,090 after being stopped at a scrap yard in Sittingbourne.

Cllr Rich Lehmann, chair of the environment and climate change committee, said the fine increases “will act as a greater deterrent” as well as “supporting further prevention and detection work”.

“We will continue to take a tough stance against waste-related offences like fly-tipping as it takes considerable resources and officer time to clean up the mess left behind by a tiny minority,” he added.

“The council's income from these FPN’s can only be used for environment-related schemes, and we choose to use much of it to help fund initiatives which focus on tackling fly-tipping and littering, such as Op Assist.

“Many people I heard from about fly-tipping felt that the previous fines were too low, so I'm glad we've been able to increase them to a level which better reflects the damage this crime does to our environment.

“Increasing the fines will hopefully act as a greater deterrent, but those that continue to fly-tip and are caught will now be paying more towards supporting further prevention and detection work.

“In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to issue a single FPN, as everyone would dispose of their waste responsibly.

“Until then, we will continue to work on preventing waste crimes, and catching those responsible so we can make Swale a cleaner and healthier place.”