Fly-tippers have been fined around £4,000 for leaving waste at beauty spots in east London and Essex amid a rise in illegal dumping.

Four men have been prosecuted for fly-tipping in Epping Forest and Wanstead Park.

Mihail-Alexandru Cricon, of Wanstead Park Road, Ilford, dumped 12 bags of rubbish in Wanstead Park and was fined £1,953.

Baryal Nasser of Cogan Avenue, Waltham Forest, and Imran Fardos, of Goodwin Road, Forest Gate, were fined £1,008 jointly for fly-tipping domestic waste at Rushey Plain car park.

Paul Daden of Royston Avenue, Chingford, was fined £1,008 for dumping builders’ waste at Fernhall Lane, Epping Forest.

The City of London Corporation, which runs both sites, has seen a rise in fly-tipping since the pandemic.

The corporation has prosecuted 13 people for fly-tipping who have been fined a total of £12,000 this year.

It saw 986 reports of fly-tipping in 2019-20 and 2,099 in 2020-21 – a 113 per cent increase.

Chairman of the City’s Epping Forest and commons committee, Graeme Doshi-Smith, said: “Epping Forest is vitally important to the health and wellbeing of millions of people and we will do everything in our power to protect it.

“As the ‘green lungs of London’, Epping Forest is of national conservation importance and we will prosecute anyone found dumping rubbish at the site.

“Fly tipping is a crime which damages the environment and wastes resources that could be better used to enhance the forest.”

The corporation prosecuted 13 people for illegally dumping waste this year, fining them a total of £12,000.

It says the increasing cost of removing fly-tipping and litter from Epping Forest is up to £440,000, which is money that could have gone towards wildlife and public facilities.