LABOUR and Tory politicians have clashed over fly-tipping in a borough.

The dispute over the illegal rubbish dumping comes in the run up to council elections on May 4.

Labour's Hyndburn Parliamentary candidate Graham Jones and Church ward local election hopeful Jemshad Ahmed have claimed the government is doing too little to tackle the fly-tipping scourge.

But the borough's Tory MP Sara Britcliffe has welcomed a £50,000 Whiehall grant to the council to crackdown on the problem including the installation of barriers and anti-climb fencing to protect targeted neighbourhoods.

She said fly-tipping incidents in Hyndburn has started to fall.

Labour research claims that there are almost 3,000 incidents of fly-tipping every single day in England - 125 an hour.

According to its analysis of government figures, the number rose by a third over the last 13 years from 819,571 in 2010 to 1,091,019 in 2022.

It also show that the number of Fixed Penalty Notices for fly-tippers increased by 176 per cent over the same period.

In 2021/22 in the North-West there were 128,426 illegal waste dumping incidents and 6,610 on the spot fines issued.

Mr Ahmed said: “Church is one area that suffers considerably and as I have been going around the community and reporting dangerous dumping such as asbestos.

"The Tories just don’t care about areas like Church and never have.”

Mr Jones said: "The Tories have taken around £750million out of Hyndburn in reduced public services. It's reduced the ability to chase after and prosecute offenders, led to increased charges and given fly-tippers the green light.

"A Labour government will clean up Britain supporting the effort to 'Keep Britain Tidy'. We will introduce clean-up squads to ensure those who make the mess, clean up the mess."

Miss Britcliffe said: "I am delighted to see the government taking further action to tackle fly-tipping in Hyndburn.

"The anti-social behaviour crackdown announced before Easter, with new powers to be given to councils over fly-tipping, combined with this £50,000 new investment, shows this government is about doing and not just talking.

“Under the stewardship of Conservative Cllr Steven Smithson, who has responsibility for fly-tipping, we have started to see fly-tipping fall in Hyndburn, falling to 2,534 incidents from 3,308 incidents in the last year. These new powers and investment will only help him, and the council, further reduce incidents of this nuisance."