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Daily vows to ‘name and shame’ fly-tippers as part of cleaner streets bid

A regional daily has vowed to “name and shame” those illegally dumping rubbish after splashing on a fly-tipper’s court case.

The Sunderland Echo in running a ‘Clean Streets’ campaign, aimed at cleaning up its patch, following a survey of readers last year.

The Echo devoted its front page yesterday to the case of Kelly Cummings, who was fined £200, as well as being ordered by Sunderland magistrates to pay a £30 surcharge and £188 costs, after admitting depositing controlled waste without an environmental permit.

The court heard Cummings, 33, was snared after a letter addressed to her was found among maggot-filled household rubbish dumped on a green space where children play.

She accepted three of the bags found were hers, but claimed four others weren’t, and said she had moved them away from her property because she has young children.

Echo managing editor Gavin Foster said: “We hope by highlighting the offences like we did on our front page we send out a message to anyone who dumps rubbish on their own doorstep that we won’t let them get away with it. We will name and shame you.”

Sunderland streets

Added Gavin: “At the back end of last year we carried out a survey of our city asking people to highlight the things that really mattered to them. Almost 1,000 people, from across all ages, took part in answering our questions on everything from crime and health to traffic and leisure.

“And what came out as your main priority for Sunderland was to see a tidier city for everyone to be proud of. Some 66pc of readers told us that the cleanliness of the city’s public spaces was poor, or very poor.

“When our readers speak we listen. We launched the ‘Clean Streets’ campaign on the back of this – not only get more people involved in cleaning up Sunderland, but to take on the litter louts in any way we can.

“We want people to report dumping and litter blackspots, send pictures to the Echo team to highlight the issue and get involved in cleaning up local communities.”