Residents in Bexley are so fed up of their area being ‘trashed’ with litter that they have offered to privately fund a security camera for a street notorious for fly-tipping.

Labour councillors for the Belvedere ward have asked the authority to consider adding more cameras to reduce crime and rubbish dumping in the area.

Labour Councillor Jeremy Fosten said that locals had organised a campaign to raise funds for a CCTV camera to monitor Parkside Road.

 He added that the road’s location beside Frank’s Park made it a popular sport for families to visit.

The councillor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Because it’s next to a park, it’s getting quite dangerous [when people fly-tip]; particularly for children because there are families living along that road so it is becoming very hazardous.

"There tends to be a lot of things like mattresses, quite heavy duty things.”

The comments came after Bexley Council documents stated that fly-tipping incidents on Wallhouse Road in Erith had sharply decreased since a CCTV camera with automatic number plate recognition had been installed on the street in July this year.

Cllr Fosten said at a council meeting on November 6 that his ward colleague Labour Councillor Esther Amaning had been told by the council that there was not enough money to install CCTV in Belvedere.

He added that the Safer Neighbourhoods policing team for the area had asked the ward councillors to request cameras to address increases in arson and vehicle theft.

Cllr Fosten said at the meeting: “Fly-tipping was one of the most reported issues in my canvasses around lower Belvedere and residents are fed up of their town being trashed so I hope that this report could mark a turning point in their efforts to keep Belvedere tidy.”

Conservative Councillor Teresa O’Neill OBE, Leader of Bexley Council, said in response that local councillors should work to improve the effectiveness of their ward panel to convene with local police services.

"She said that councillors should be aware of other recordings available for the police to use when investigating crimes, such as Ring doorbell footage.

The council leader said at the meeting: “Our CCTV at the moment is in town centres, it’s not out in the community more widely. Technology has moved on since we originally had that conversation and that contract.

"There is a conversation to be had about the latest technology and how you might use it going forward.”

A Bexley Council spokesperson told the LDRS that the authority takes a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping and does not hesitate to come down hard on offenders.

They said illegal waste deposits with potential evidence are inspected by its enforcement team 264 fines had been issued for fly-tipping in Belvedere so far this year.

They add that most of these offenders lived in the borough.

The spokesperson said: “Our environmental services team currently removes hazardous waste and materials likely to attract vermin as promptly as possible to safeguard public health.

"Over the last year our cleansing teams have conducted 32 visits to Parkside Road to remove waste posing immediate health or safety risks with one instance requiring a Hiab crane for removal.”

They added: “We recognise the concerns surrounding this issue and are in active discussions about additional measures that we can take to help address these. It is important to note that the land in question is not registered to any owner and is not classified as a public highway which limits the council’s capacity for intervention.”

The spokesperson said the authority is exploring options for new deterrents to reduce fly-tipping in the area, but they could not presently confirm whether CCTV would be part of these measures.

They said residents had not been denied requests for privately-owned CCTV installations and the council encourages any video evidence from private CCTV that residents may be willing to install as this would help enforcement efforts.