Council must work harder on litter blight
A call has been made for an urgent meeting about the litter crisis in Drogheda.
Cllr Paul Bell said he was disappointed at the response of the council at his motion to convene a special workshop, when they indicated they were taking appropriate action to combat the problem.
“I feel that the response and the quality of the reply, isn’t in line with the motion, as all I have received is a review of the work being done by the staff, and not an answer to my motion,” said the Labour councillor.
“There is work done during the week, but there is littering after hours and at the weekends, and it is clear there are some continual blackspots where the letters and fines are simply not working.”
The council said the from the beginning of February of this year they have deployed an extra litter warden to Drogheda in addition to the warden previously assigned there on a permanent basis.
“We have also increased our regular five-hour foot patrols in which we target an area with all six of the litter wardens operating in County Louth,” they continued in a reply.
“We have also tasked our three traffic wardens with reporting on any littering that they encounter during the course of their traffic warden patrols.”
They say the wardens have issued some 221 fixed penalty notices so far in 2018 (up to 26th June) reflecting a significant increase in enforcement activity in Drogheda in the current year over previous years. Many of these will result in prosecutions in the latter half of the year - unpaid fixed penalty notices are forwarded for prosecution within six months of their issue.
“The wardens on the ground report an improvement in the occurrence of littering in the targeted areas of the town resulting from their enforcement efforts in the year to date,” adds the response.
“Consistent and effective enforcement provides the only real route to progress on this issue. With this in mind, the council will continue to deploy its available resources to best effect in order to tackle the issue of littering in Drogheda and throughout the County and will keep progress on the issue under review.”
Cllr Bell said it is clear that the workshop he requested is still needed. “When you see some of the dumping that is still going on in the lanes, those who are doing it don’t seem to be responding to the letters or fines,” he pointed out.
“I still think that the use of CCTV would deter people from persistent dumping, and I’m still requesting a special workshop with the relevant Council Officials and Elected members for the purpose of considering and agreeing the most effective response to this criminal activity which is having a profound negative impact on the image and environment of our town, surrounding villages and townlands.
Cllr Pio Smith said he supported the idea of the workshop, as there are several issues that need to be highlighted.
“People might not know that cigarette stubs make up 60% of the total rubbish and cleaning them up is being footed by the local taxpayers,” he said. “The littering is a blight on the town and for residents near St Catherine’s steps and outside fast food locations and ATMs, it’s particularly noticeable.”
The call was also supported by Cllr Joanna Byrne and Oliver Tully, who said the workshops worked with parking issues, and “cigarette butts may be small, but significant when it comes to litter”.
Director of Services Paddy Donnelly said it would take an army of litter wardens to clean up after the littering and dumping, so the citizens can be that army too.
“Neighbours must encourage people to dispose of their rubbish properly, and more fixed penalities will be issued,” he said. “We can’t have 24 hour litter patrols, but I will raise the issue of the workshops.”