The county council leader has spoken out to curb fears of fly-tipping – as his administration considers shutting 12 tips to save money.

Hampshire County Council needs to find savings to plug a £132 million budget shortfall by April 2025.

As part of this, 12 waste centres in Hampshire, including Hedge End and Marchwood, could be closed to save £1.6million a year.

READ MORE: New Forest campaign to save Marchwood and Somerley tips

This has sparked concerns from residents, who fear that fly-tipping could skyrocket.

In a statement, leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Rob Humby, said: "We know that fly-tipping is a big concern for Hampshire residents and appreciate that it is an issue that is being linked to the County Council’s current Future Services Consultation.

“The consultation sets out 13 cost reduction proposals which could help towards closing a £132m budget shortfall we expect by April 2025."

The council is appealing to residents to have their say on the waste centre closure proposals through an online consultation.

The council leader continued: "Our consultation sets out a range of savings options from the Household Waste Recycling Centre budget.

“No final decisions have been made, and it’s important that we now hear as many views as possible, which could include the closure of the smallest, most expensive-to-run HWRCs.

"Whilst the total number of reported incidents of fly-tipping – a criminal act - on public land across Hampshire has disappointingly risen, this has been by less than one percent.

“Plus, the data shows that some of these fly-tips will also have been reported multiple times – counting towards the total incident figures.”

New data released by the Government shows that from 2022 to 2023 there were 9,486 fly-tipping incidents in Southampton.

The full list of at-risk tips are in Alresford, Bishops Waltham, Fair Oak, Hartley Wintney, Hayling Island, Aldershot, Bordon, Casbrook, Hedge End, Marchwood, Petersfield, and Somerley.

Campaigners have launched a bid to save the sites in Marchwood and Somerley.

Jack Davies, the Liberal Democrats' parliamentary candidate for New Forest West, said: "Closing the sites would leave Pennington as the sole HWRC for the whole of the Forest.

"The queues and tailbacks will be unimaginable.”