Town’s scheme for street warden fines put on hold as council faces budget gap

A PROPOSED scheme to get street wardens in a South Wales town to issue fines for dog fouling and littering has been put on hold.

Merthyr Tydfil council had been considering a new scheme which would give street wardens the power to issue on the spot fines for littering in addition to their parking enforcement duties.

It followed the revelation that there had been no fines issued for dog fouling or littering during an initial pilot project with environmental enforcement officers which started in July 2017 costing the council £36,000.

In July this year, full council voted in favour of carrying out a feasibility study on the idea.

But following a question from Cllr Tanya Skinner, Cheryllee Evans – the chief officer for neighbourhood services – confirmed to members of the governance, performance, business change and corporate services scrutiny committee that the scheme had been parked for the moment due to the financial position the council is in.

The council now has no environmental enforcement officers on its books following the end of the scheme but says it acted as a deterrent and public perception of how the council approach environmental offences vastly improved during that period.

The council is facing a budget gap of more than £5m next year and more than £17m over the next four years.

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