A �2m crackdown on illegal fly-tippers in Wales has been announced by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The extra money has been pledged to the Environment Agency to fund increased surveillance and prosecutions.

Sue Essex hopes the message will get across

There have been 90 successful illegal waste prosecutions in Wales in the last 12 months in Wales, creating revenue of more than �250,000 in fines and costs.

Rogue waste tippers and fly-tippers will be targetted by the clampdown, which will use increased spot checks and secret camera surveillance.

Illegal disposal of waste is already a major problem, and there are fears the situation will worsen after new European rules which have increased the cost of traditional legal dumping in landfill sites.

"I hope it sends a message out to all the people that might be contemplating tipping," said Assembly Environment Minister Sue Essex.

Surveillance will be increased as part of the clampdown

"The Environment Agency is going to be out there, active, on the ground and trying to prevent some of this happening.

In May, a campaign in south west Wales began, seeking to increase prosecutions against fly-tippers after a dramatic increase in rubbish being dumped in the Neath Port Talbot area.

The rise, which saw the local authority's clean-up costs for rubbish rocket, had been partly blamed on the introduction of tip charges.

"The whole purpose of taking offenders to court is to ensure other people do not fly tip," said Neath Port Talbot environmental health chief Steve Bolchover.

"The courts have given us their backing, with fines in the region of several hundred pounds."