A VALLEY newsagent who was caught when council officials found his address among the rubbish he left has been fined.

Amar Saleem, who runs the newsagents/off-licence in Newchurch Road, had dumped cardboard boxes and paper in Stacksteads.

He was traced by the communities team from Rossendale Council and he was unable to provide copies of waste transfer notes, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Saleem pleaded guilty to illegally disposing trade waste and was fined £250 and ordered to pay £1,250 costs.

Coun Peter Steen, the council's environment portfolio holder, said: “Flytipping is a big nuisance for residents and represents nearly a third of service requests received by the communities team.

“Rossendale Council will not tolerate flytipping and by bringing successful prosecu-tions we are sending a message to people that we will catch them and they will be punished.

“If someone offers to take your waste away on the cheap it is no excuse - you can still be held responsible if the material ends up being flytipped.”

Since April 2010 the communities team has responded to 182 fly-tipping incidents.

A spokesman said: “The team investigates all incidents of fly-tipping that get reported to the council looking for evidence of who may be responsible and also to advise on whether any preventative measures can be taken, for example installing CCTV, signage or encouraging the landowner to secure the site.

“If any flytipping can be traced back to those respon-sible a prosecution will usually be brought.”

Rossendale Council has also recently issued a formal warning to a resident in Bacup for flytipping.