MORE than 500 flytipping incidents have blighted Malvern just two years - leaving the taxpayer counting the cost of cleaning up the unsightly mess.

Angry council chiefs have revealed that flytipping has cost £22,000 in clearance costs and investigations in the last 12 months alone with car tyres, old bicycles, household furniture, food, clothes and packaging among the mess regularly found littering the area.

Environmental campaigners have hit out at the culprits while Malvern Hills District Council, which has to pay to clear it up, has also voiced its fury.

Just some of the incidents in the district include two giant fridge freezers dumped in Rectory Lane, Madresfield, chairs, scraps of metal and wardrobes in Claphill Lane, Rushwick and only last week a caravan found in the waters at Leigh Brook, near Leigh Sinton.

Workers have also been called to the Malvern Hills itself to recover dumped household items, and the fields around Cockshot Road in the town itself.

Council bosses say in the 2015/16 financial year there were 251 flytipping cases across Malvern, and 253 in 2014/15 - totalling 504.

Sam Corp, from the Environmental Services Association, said: "Dealing with the results is costing taxpayers millions of pounds each year, and the waste from criminals can harm the environment and put local communities in danger.

"By not complying, local businesses could well be helping facilitate crime by not ensuring waste is disposed of safely."

Phil Merrick, joint head of economy and communities at Malvern Hills District Council, said: "Flytipping costs the taxpayer thousands of pounds in clear up costs every year and is a blight on the environment."

Across south Worcestershire flytipping incidents have risen in recent years with Malvern, Wychavon and Worcester getting more than 1,200 a year.

The culprits can be fined £400 or prosecuted in court but in a typical year less than 50 culprits are found due to a lack of evidence.

Campaigners from the National Flytipping Prevention Group say incidents are up around 5.6 per cent across the country, hitting 900,000 in 2014/15.

* Anyone who finds flytipping in Malvern should report it to the council by calling 01684 862151 or visit malvernhills.gov.uk/fly-tipping-and-littering.