A council has vowed to continue prosecuting flytippers after spending almost £70,000 a year clearing and investigating illegally dumped rubbish.

Statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show Braintree Council reported 746 incidents of flytipping in 2012/13.

It spent an estimated £43,166 of taxpayers’ money clearing the waste and a further £24,618 on investigations.

Nine of the incidents involved asbestos, while 16 involved vehicle parts, 13 white goods and in 48 incidents tyres were dumped. Some 162 involved so much waste, a Transit van was needed to clear it.

Cllr Wendy Schmitt, Braintree Council’s cabinet member for place, said: “Through the work our team have been doing, the number of instances of flytipping in our district is minimal.

"However, when we have cases, we will investigate and we will prosecute.”