Two Ilford residents have already been fined for not putting their rubbish in red bin liners following the introduction of an anti fly-tipping pilot scheme on Monday (September 24).

Beau Stanford-Francis, who was appointed the council’s head of neighbourhood street scene in July, informed residents of the news during the first of the revamped Local Forums in Redbridge Town Hall, in High Road, last night (September 26).

He explained the council’s Our Streets Strategy including a scheme to try and whittle out fly-tippers being trialled for three months in Woodland Avenue.

Residents are being asked to throw their waste out in red sacks between 7pm and 7am so that fly-tippers, believed to typically use black plastic bags, can be easily identified.

Offenders can be fined up to £400.

He said: “On Monday we issued two cautions and on Tuesday two people were fined.”

Meenakshi Sharma, campaigner with Ilford Noise, pressed Mr Stanford-Francis on what to do about commercial waste.

“Businesses dump commercial waste on the streets all the time,” she said.

“Most councils have a window for commercial waste and they put it next to their property, not by the side of the road.”

“All this contributes to an environment of filth.”

Mr Stanford-Francis responded: “With respect to commercial waste, I couldn’t agree more.”

He added: “We’ve got the tools, we should be doing that.”

The question of how we can tackle fly-tipping was discussed by residents, councillors and officers for around an hour of the first revamped Local Forum.

Around 60 residents attended the one hour and 45 minute meeting focussed on the borough’s “South Neighbourhood” wards – composed of the wards of Clementswood, Loxford, Valentines and Ilford Town centre.

Two registered attendees were from Seven Kings and Wanstead wards and the remainder were split evenly between Loxford and Clementswood.

“Leaflets in different languages,” “automatic camera in hotspots” and “conducting trend analyses” were among the hundreds of suggested solutions for tackling fly-tipping suggested by residents in writing on post-it notes during a 25-minute ideas session.

“We’re in the business of solutions, we want bright ideas that we can take forward,” said Simon Parker, the council’s corporate director of strategy.

The final 30mins were devoted to questions for Council Leader Cllr Jas Athwal.

“Have you seen the corner of Ilford Lane and Mortlake Road on a Sunday evening?” one exasperated questioner asked.

“It’s a dump. There’s literally 20 to 30 bags dumped on these corners every Sunday.”

He suggested the council put dumpsters on every street corner and have a seven-day collection service.

In response, Cllr Athwal said: “One of the things we have noticed is that – wherever you see a bin it becomes a tipping point.”

“You can put skips there but suddenly it will be overflowing.”

He added: “On the dumpsters, I will take advice from Beau.”

Mr Stanford-Francis added that the council is willing to try new ideas such as dumpsters.