Batley is North Kirklees' biggest fly-tipping hotspot

And, says one campaigner, it only takes a moment to register problem hotspots online.

Now clean-up campaigner Paul Young is urging residents across the borough to do their bit in the battle against the illegal dumping of rubbish by photographing regular dumping areas.

By his own admission he is “quite prolific” and credits his reports for the reason Batley’s status is so high.

He calls it “a good indicator rather than a bad one because it means the problem is being reported”.

Mr Young, who runs the community group Batley Against Tipping, organises regular litter picks.

But in the last few days the 43-year-old father-of-two has taken to social media to show how simple it is to highlight fly-tipping areas and to register the issue with Kirklees Council.

One site, a car park at Providence Street in Batley, is littered with rubble, furniture, work benches – and asbestos.

“The car park was part of the old Kirklees College site, which was sold about a year ago.

“Since then people have been lobbing their rubbish on there, including a bag of asbestos.

“The problem is that it’s near to a children’s nursery,” he said.

Mr Young, who is an activist with the local Conservative group, says incidents of fly tipping have increased since Kirklees Council imposed restrictions on the type of waste residents can take to their local tip.

“It’s a ridiculous situation. Just bonkers. If you have a small piece of plasterboard from your own home you can’t take it to your local tip unless you’re registered.

“Some people might do that but a lot more will just dump it.

“I’d like to get some prosecutions around hotspots. Unless the policy changes or there is an effectively policed deterrent it won’t change.

“This is not political point-scoring. It’s about getting rid of the crap.”

Mr Young said he was reaching out to anyone in Batley to ask them to do their bit.

“The message is, ‘We can do this’.

“There’s been quite a lot of chatter on social media. If that inspires some people to say that fly-tipping isn’t acceptable then that’s great.

“I’ve copied in local councillors to my various tweets. They can push it a little more than me. Shabir Pandor, the council leader, is my councillor. If someone can get something done it must be the head of the council.”