New enforcement units will be deployed as Brimbank council targets litterbugs in illegal dumping hotspots throughout Sunshine, Albion and St Albans.
The council will launch ‘‘rapid response units’’ for inspections, while local laws officers will increase patrols.
More than 1100 letters have been sent to residents, owners and body corporate managers in problem areas ahead of the planned blitz, launched after figures showed illegal dumping costs the council up to $680,000 a year.
City development director Stuart Menzies said the council was taking a harder line with litterbugs.
“Council has increased its enforcement capability to pursue the illegal dumpers and increased its capacity to remove dumped rubbish once it has been identified,” he said.
“Prosecution takes place if the fines are not paid in response to council’s initial notices.”
Infrastructure and environment director Paul Younis said the blitz would eventually be extended to other areas.
Residents can dispose of old items such as televisions, car batteries, motor oils, paint and computers at the council’s Detox Your Home centre in Keilor Park.
Cairnlea resident Bill, who did not want his surname published, told the Weekly that a vacant Department of Defence lot next to the Western Highway, planned for a mixed-use precinct, was often the site of illegal dumping.
“They drive in late at night, bust open the gate and dump their garbage in the middle of the lot,” he said. “I also noticed a heap of contaminated soil, removed during the building of Cairnlea estate, that had been dumped in there.”
A Places Victoria spokesman said remediation works at the site had been undertaken and were undergoing final approval by an independent auditor to meet Environment Protection Authority standards prior to any development.
An EPA spokeswoman said a groundwater audit of the site was under way.
‘‘Prior to the redevelopment of the site, the planning authority may require that an environmental audit be completed to ensure potentially contaminated land is suitable for its intended use, or to advise how to make the land suitable for its intended use,’’ she said.\
» To report illegal dumping, phone 9249 4000.
