A builder who dumped a pile of rubbish in a local park has been given a "slap on the wrist" and a £20 fine.

Magistrates at Lavender Hill gave Genadi Aleksandrov, who dumped unwanted timber, rubble and other construction waste on a footpath in Garratt Green, a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay a £20 victim surcharge plus a £200 contribution towards the council’s prosecution costs.

Mr Aleksandrov received the penalty on January 10 2017.

The council’s environment spokesman Councillor Jonathan Cook has expressed disapproval with the result and is calling on local magistrates to treat flytiping offences more seriously.

He said: "I’m afraid that many local people, myself included, will view this as an inadequate and unsatisfactory outcome.

"This was a blatant and outrageous flytip in a local park and given these circumstances I would have expected local magistrates to have handed down a much stronger sentence than this.

"The council is doing its best to combat flytipping.

"We issue hundreds of on-the-spot fines each year to people and businesses who break litter laws but when we come across a serious offence like this one we believe it should be dealt with by the courts, which have the powers to impose effective deterrent sentences.

"Sadly this has not happened here and instead Mr Alexsandrov has been given little more than a slap on the wrist.

"We will of course continue to target those who cause environmental damage to our community and hope that in future magistrates will view these cases with the gravity they deserve and reflect the public’s concern about this type of crime."

Anyone with information about rubbish being dumped in the borough should telephone (020) 8871 6396. All calls will be treated in confidence.