A ten-month blitz on flytipping across Birmingham uncovered 10,600 tonnes of rubbish including supermarket trolleys and a can of beer with a sell-by date of 1997.

The "You Are Your City - Clean And Safe" initiative represented the city council's first attempt at a wholesale clearance of sites where litter had been allowed to build up over many years.

Almost half of the calls to fire stations in the city are as a result of fires deliberately started at dumps on waste land.

The campaign, which cost £670,000, was so successful that the council qualified for a £4.6 million reward under a Government-backed Public Service Agreement.

Residents and local councillors were asked to nominate the worst sites for clearance.

Washwood Heath topped the list of wards where the most rubbish was removed, with 1,357 tonnes. Council crews picked up 1,243 tonnes in Shard End and 877 tonnes in Nechells.

Sutton Four Oaks was at the bottom of the rubbish league, with only 12 tonnes, followed by Harborne with 26 tonnes.

A council scrutiny committee praised the operation but warned that sites must not be allowed to deteriorate. Committee chairman Tim Huxtable criticised the lack of funding for an on-going programme.

Coun Huxtable (Con Bournville) said: "The current street cleaning contract does not require illegally flytipped waste to be cleared from private land or land that is owned by other council directorates and in some cases there is no dedicated budget for this.

"Prosecuting those who illegally flytipped waste was not always found to be straight-forward and it was felt that current legislation for ensuring that landowners maintain their land in a clean and tidy condition could be strengthened."

Coun Huxtable said the clearance campaign represented an important change of approach by the council, moving away from dismissing flytipping as a problem residents simply had to put up with.

He added: "Flytipped rubbish is an eyesore.

"Prior to this campaign the impression given was that no one cared what Birmingham looked like and it also meant that sites where flytipping occurred were not being regenerated, were often the subject of arson and contributed to an increase in the fear of being a victim of crime," he added.