CHARGES imposed at recycling centres in Surrey could result in a rise in fly-tipping, the Keep Britain Tidy group has warned.

From September, households in Surrey will be limited to one free bag of some garden or building waste a day. Further bags will cost £4 each.

But Keep Britain Tidy said it was concerned about extra rubbish piling up on streets.

Its chief executive Alison Ogden-Newton said: “It’s got to be easy for people to do the right thing otherwise we will see an increase in fly-tipping."

In 2014/2015, Surrey’s borough and county councils spent nearly £1million in collection, investigation and disposal of fly tipping.

In efforts to combat the problem, supported by the Environment Agency and Surrey Police, a co-ordinator will be appointed to help councils in Surrey share intelligence on fly-tippers and step up enforcement.

Haslemere Town councillor Pat Blades said in a letter to The Herald the decision last year to withdraw the Saturday mobile waste collection from Wey Hill was “shortsighted”.

She said: “Along with recently reduced opening hours at borough council recycling depots, the problem of flytipping will continue to grow in the area, blighting the environment with the clean-up costs eventually falling to local taxpayers.”

The town council led a campaign to keep the dustcart collection with a petition to Surrey County Council.

The then mayor Melanie Odell also wrote to Mike Goodman, the councillor for environment, expressing the town council’s “outrage” – saying residents were being badly let down by the county by the withdrawal of the collection service, which was originally a replacement for Haslemere’s tip when the site became a Tesco store.

But the service was withdrawn last September, leaving residents with a 11-mile round trip to Witley to get rid of non recyclable waste.

Surrey County Council said the new fees and reduced hours at its nine community recycling centres would save £1.8million a year and help towards the rising cost of adult social care.

People can still get rid of one bag of DIY waste a day for free. The charges also include £50 for a car load of loose waste and £5 for a tyre from a motorised vehicle.

Household waste and crockery remains free to recycle, as does clay flower pots and garden ornaments.

nTHE fight against fly-tipping is to be stepped up by East Hampshire District Council following Hampshire County Council’s decision to cut hours at its waste recycling centres.

District council leader Ferris Cowper said: “The inevitable increase in the curse of fly-tipping was simply ignored by the leader of Hampshire County Council when he tried to defend his policy of cutting hours at the centres, closing them altogether on Thursdays and charging some people to use them.

“For many of our residents fly-tipping is a nightmare which looks terrible, causes accidents from concealed sharp objects, destroys the appearance of their community, encourages anti-social behaviour and even contributes to the spread of diseases. EHDC is strongly opposed to the closures and deeply disappointed the county sees fit to press ahead despite being clearly warned of the consequences.”