The reduction in flytipping incidents demonstrates a truth: get tough on any sort of offending and it is likely to decline.

All the councils are to be praised for the reductions we have seen recently in incidents because flytipping is a blight perpetrated by the lazy and feckless.

The changes to waste collection of recent times led to fears that there would be far more dumped in spots by householders and cowboy traders who thought the new arrangement placed legitimate waste disposal in the too-hard bin.

Yet the councils and Oxfordshire Waste Partnership have worked hard to ensure that they knew there was an increased chance of getting caught.

Prosecutions of those involved have helped, although some may feel our magistrates could do with adding a bit more on top of their penalties. Oxford City Council famously did not use its flash CCTV camera for the first few months but now it appears to be paying its way down near Tesco in Cowley.

Council expenditure is under a squeeze everywhere but we hope all the councils see they have achieved this by focussing on the problem and any reduction in that would see an inevitable rise in rubbish blighting our beauty spots again.