Cracking down on a fly-tipping hotspot in Bexley is proving “challenging” as people travel from out of the borough to dump there, it has emerged.

The Darent Industrial Estate in Slade Green has become a go-to spot for illegal dumping, with workers on the site starting a petition calling for action.

Bexley Council and police have already carried out joint operations to solve  problems at the estate, but councillors are calling for more work to be done.

Slade Green councillor Stef Borella said at a places scrutiny meeting: “This is a very tricky one to solve and at the end of the day it will need money. Saying this is one person’s fault won’t get us anywhere.

“The person in charge of the management team at the estate has a  petition with many signatures on it.

“It would be helpful that there is a follow-up to this and we get the relevant parties around the table to scope out the problem.

“It is a costly problem that hits people in the pocket. The people who do it know they can get away with it – we know people from Essex come down because they know they can dump their rubbish.

“The council has done a lot of work on this, I’m critical of the council on a lot but on this I won’t be because they have done a lot of good work.”

The councillor called for a meeting to be set up to think of long-term solutions for the estate.

Fly-tipping is a criminal offence and those found guilty can be hit with fines of up to £50,000 and a prison sentence.

Just months ago the council seized and crushed a Ford Transit that had been part of fly-tipping at the estate.

The vehicle had been used to dump rubbish along Ray Lamb Way, and at the time cabinet member Peter Craske said the council will “come down hard” on littering criminals.

Cllr Gareth Bacon said the problem had to be tackled through a multi-agency operation.

He said: “It is a problem because there are gullies down both sides of the road and you get a multi-agency finger-pointing exercise.

“For the people who work there it is a problem that just gets worse and worse. Of course it doesn’t just go in the gullies it goes on the road too and you get the question of who pays for what.”

David Bryce Smith, deputy director of the public realm, said: “There has already been a meeting with the Environment Agency but this is a problem that splits into big challenges at the estate.

“We did a big operation last year and a smaller one with the police and trading standards two weeks ago that ended in three arrests.

“There are businesses on that estate on the edge of compliance and legality, some of that contributes to the fly-tipping but a lot of it comes from outside.

“It is a real challenge because there are no simple solutions that don’t result in a significant expenditure and it’s at a time where we don’t have it.

“There is so much in the gullies overall that we are looking at several hundred thousand pounds. It’s not straightforward.

“It’s known as a fly-tipping hotspot. We are doing our best, we had a multi-agency meeting recently and there’s an operation planned for next year – we welcome solutions, but it is proving quite challenging.”