Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy has warned that flytipping is dragging the city down.

It cost nearly £500,000 to clear up dumped domestic waste in Bristol and the surrounding area last year, with 9,531 incidents of abandoned furniture and dumped domestic waste.

Ms McCarthy said flytippers must realise the damage they do to communities by dumping rubbish.

"Flytipping is a real problem in my area. It astounds me that people think it is ok to do it," she said.

"It's as though they see any bit of open land as an invitation to dump armchairs or rubbish.

"We must send out a strong signal to people that this is not acceptable.

"It creates a health hazard by attracting rats.

"If you live in a neighbourhood where people think it is ok to dump things it drags the area down."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said £485,300 was spent clearing rubbish in the former Avon area last financial year.

Bristol City Council spent £286,352 cleaning up 5,687 flytipping incidents.

Bath and North East Somerset spent £41,451 on 625 incidents, in North Somerset the bill was £93,760 for 1,600 cases, and South Gloucestershire spent £63,739 on 1,619.

There was 1,240,000 flytipping cases nationally in 2007-08, with 11 per cent involving single black bags and 60 per cent involving household waste.

Waste Minister Jane Kennedy said: "Flytipping is unacceptable and a blight on public land. There has been a decrease in incidents but we still need to work on the serious environmental and social problem of flytipping.

"Local authorities are doing well in the fight against flytipping, and the increased number of successful prosecutions is encouraging.

"No one should have to accept fly tipping in their area and I am determined to make flytipping a thing of the past."