Photo by ZR
Council cracks down on litter and dog fouling
Hastings Borough Council is launching a major initiative to crack down on litter and dog fouling in the borough. How do you feel about these issues? And the new officers patrolling the streets from the company, Kingdom? Fixed Penalty Notices?
Cllr Colin Fitzgerald, the council’s lead member for the environment, explained: “Like all residents and visitors to the borough, we want Hastings to be tidy and clean. We want it to be a pleasant place to live, work and visit. We are proud of our borough and we know our community is too.
“Local residents have told us about the problem of dog fouling and littering. We responded with a hard hitting publicity campaign and by making it possible to report these issues, quickly and easily online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Then we introduced two Public Space Protection Orders to deal with dog fouling and anti-social behaviour.
“From 3 July 2017, the council will be working in partnership with a private company to ensure we back up our words with action. The company, Kingdom, will help our council wardens with enforcement of dog fouling and litter. They will do so for the next six months on a trial basis. If the trial proves successful the council may look to continue the service going forward.
“Officers from Kingdom will have the authority to issue an £80 on the spot fine (Fixed Penalty Notice or FPN) for those caught deliberately dropping litter and £100 for those caught not clearing up after their dog. There will be no reduction in cost for early payment. They will patrol across the borough based on intelligence from littering and fouling complaints to the council, and information from our wardens. They are working for the council and for residents and visitors. With their help we can keep Hastings clean and tidy.
“Kingdom enforcement officers will wear council branded uniforms, similar to the council’s wardens, who can also issue Fixed Penalty Notices. They will wear body-worn cameras to ensure complete transparency of any involvement with people interviewed about alleged offences.
“As we highlighted earlier this year, an anti-social minority still drop shocking amounts of litter, such as smoking related litter, and cause disgusting problems by not clearing up after their dogs.
“We ask residents and visitors to do their bit to help us keep the town clean by reporting dog fouling, litter, fly tipping and more on My Hastings. There is more information on how and why we issue Fixed Penalty Notices and Kingdom’s role in enforcement, on our website www.hastings.gov.uk”
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2 Comments
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I can understand us wanting to keep our town free of litter but it seems the council is going to extremes lately by using an outside company to issue on the spot fines of £80 for litter and £100 for dog fouling. I know of many people who have been stopped by enforcement officers for dropping the tiniest of sweet wrappers, dog ends et al and then told they had to pay the fine or else. The place where most of this seems to be happening is outside Hastings train station. Those I have spoken to who have been caught out in this way are either on benefits or low incomes and were unable to pay the Fixed Penalty Notices on demand. If you can’t pay you risk ending up with a criminal record. Surely a warning or a much smaller fine for a first offence would be better, especially if the litter was picked up. Could it be that these wardens, acting on behalf of the council are paid huge bonuses for handing out fines to members of the public? Perhaps a nice little earner for some! People have allegedly been fined FPN’s simply for pouring their coffee away on the street or for dropping small pieces of orange peel!
Comment by Steve Waters — Friday, Mar 2, 2018 @ 17:42
How much will this new venture into dog poo cost us? Why is it necessary to engage an outside company for this job? I thought this council (US) was bankrupt? And this is why we have seen the closure of public lavatories. Surely it is not necessary to go to a private company for help with dog do-dos? Things get crazier by the day in this town.
Comment by Ms.Doubtfire — Thursday, Jul 6, 2017 @ 08:25