The City of London saw a dramatic increase in cases of dog fouling and fly-tipping during the pandemic.
The authority received nearly triple the amount of animal fouling reports in 2020/21 compared with 2019/20 while fly-tipping incidents doubled in the same period.
The City of London Corporation is responsible for the Square Mile as well as green spaces including Hampstead Heath, Epping Forest and Ashtead Common.
The Corporation received 108 reports for animal fouling in 2019/20 and 308 in 2020/21, an increase of 185.2 percent.
However, the authority took no action regarding the incidents in both years – meaning no one was fined.
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It also saw 986 reports of fly-tipping in 2019/20 and 2,099 in 2020/21 – a 112.9 per cent increase.
Fly-tipping is a criminal offence and can result in a fixed penalty notice (FPN) or prosecution.
The corporation revealed two cases of fly-tipping were prosecuted last year and 47 people were given a FPN for the same offence, a Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed.
The authority said no data is available for actions taken against fly-tipping in 2019/20.
A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said: “We work hard to ensure the highest levels of cleanliness in the city.
“The Square Mile is the world’s leading international financial centre and its over 500,000 workers and 7,500 residents rightly expect the street scene to be of a very high standard in which to live and work.”
They refused to reveal precisely which areas have seen the highest number of dog waste complaints and fly–tipping.
A man who dumped a carpet and rubbish bags in Epping Forest was fined £880 and ordered to pay the City of London compensation in November last year.
The corporation reported that illegal flying tipping in Epping Forest rose by more than 50 percent during the first national lockdown.
Other London boroughs saw fly-tipping and dog mess incidents rise during the pandemic.
The number of fly-tipping cases in Kensington and Chelsea increased by 17.5 percent while dog fouling cases rose by 13.4 percent.
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