4:10pm Thursday 24th February 2011
By Max Orbach
A COUNCIL has been urged to use spy powers to help find the now notorious Canvey tyre dumper.
Another 25 tyres have been dumped on the island, this time in Haven Road and near the entrance to a caravan park.
More than 1,000 tyres have been dumped over a series of nights since mid-December, but so far the police and council have failed to catch the culprit.
Jane King, Canvey Island Independent Party councillor for Canvey West, believes Castle Point Council should use any available law to find the person responsible.
She wants CCTV cameras put up under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to catch the flytipper in the act She said: “It wouldn’t be a permanent fixture, just until we have caught them.
“I think it must be the same people doing it because they keep dumping them in the same areas – the problem is we haven’t got any proof.
“Something must be done, because Canvey shouldn’t be a dumping ground. These tyres are costing the tax payer a fortune to get rid of.”
She added: “Councils have been criticised in the past for using these powers to snoop on people’s bins and things like that.
“Well, this is a legitimate case where they really should use them.”
Elizabeth Swann spotted the latest pile of tyres when she left her home in Haven Road on Monday morning.
She said: “I saw all these tyres on the side of the road, and thought, ‘Oh no, not again’.
“We had the same thing here about a fortnight ago, although that time they left them all scattered down the road. This time they’d been left in a neater pile.”
The tyres have since been cleared away by Castle Point Council.
In all cases, the tyres are believed to have been dumped by someone driving a white Sherpa LDV van.
Police have urged residents who see anything suspicious to call Canvey police on 0300 3334444.
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