Crackdown on litter from cars
A TOWN hall’s crackdown on littering – including new fines for throwing rubbish from vehicles – will start next month with a neighbouring council making the same move.
Wigan town hall’s ruling cabinet this week rubber-stamped plans that will see vehicle owners fined £120.
The tougher stance, said to be a ‘necessary and proportionate response to the current environmental issues facing the council’, will include increasing the on-the-spot fines for general littering from £80 to £120.
Leader of the council David Molyneux said: “I want to make it very clear to the people out there, this is going to happen. If you’re found littering, you will be charged, simple as that.”
Drivers have also been warned they will face similar penalties if they litter from their vehicles in one of the borough’s neighbouring districts.
Council bosses in Salford have already agreed to introduce fines of up to £150, the maximum amount permitted.
The new regulations are part of a wider government strategy, introduced earlier this year, to tackle litter problems across the country.
They introduced larger fines and for the first time made the car owner liable even if they are not in the vehicle at the time.
Unlike counterparts in Salford, council officers in Wigan will not use CCTV to catch-out offending drivers or passengers.
Instead, responsibility will lie with the town hall’s existing team of environmental officers.
Officers said the fines will act as a deterrent to encourage ‘behaviour change’ and they are not using the new measure as an ‘income generator’.