FRUSTRATED residents are being urged to “name and shame” their neighbours disobeying bin rules as a councillor revealed a mobile CCTV van could be used to catch offenders. 

The streets of Basildon have been lined with rubbish since the introduction of a controversial new waste collection scheme – and Kevin Blake, responsible for the environment, is vowing to “come down hard” on people breaking rules. 

He is now urging residents to gather video and picture evidence of their neighbours who refuse to use the new wheelie bin and sack system. 

The councillor has revealed the council could also invest in a mobile CCTV van to parade the streets and catch people putting out rubbish incorrectly or on the wrong days. 

Mr Blake said: “They need to name and shame people. At least if we have the evidence, we can speak to them and say we’ll take action if it carries on.

“I’ve already received several videos, where I can see exactly who it is.”

The councillor also says in areas where cameras may not be in use, the council plans to put up signs to act as a deterrent.

Mr Blake said: “We’re still looking into using mobile CCTV.

“In the meantime, we plan to put signs which say ‘CCTV may be in use in the area’ in hotspots. If you say cameras are definitely in the area, people will just go and dump the rubbish somewhere else.”

Mr Blake says the deterrent has been effective near his home in Walthams, Pitsea.

He said: “We had a problem with flytippers many years ago, so we put a sign up and the problem disappeared overnight.

“We’re not going to put the CCTV up straight away. But it will have people looking around, as they won’t have a clue whether there’s CCTV there or not.”

Mr Blake was not able to say when the signs and, eventually, the CCTV cameras will be introduced but he insists he will “push it as fast as he can”.

Despite ongoing complaints from residents, and petitions calling for the new waste collection scheme to be reversed, Mr Blake insists it is working.

He said: “People don’t like change, I get that. I can’t apologise enough to people who’ve had a bad experience despite doing the right thing.”