Councils face ban on using Asbo laws to punish bin breaches
COUNCILS are to be banned from using bin fines “as a means to generate income” after it emerged that families are risking large penalties and criminal records if they put out overflowing bins.
Town halls will be told that penalties should only be issued when “in the public interest to do so, and when it is proportionate to do so”.
Ministers are furious that councils have started to use legislation designed to tackle anti-social behaviour to punish households that break local rules on recycling and rubbish disposal.
An investigation by the Daily Mail found that councils were threatening households with Community Protection Notices in a bid to encourage better recycling. CPNS were introduced as part of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act in 2014 to prevent unreasonable behaviour having a negative effect on the local community.
Anyone who receives a notice has to comply or faces being taken to court, fined and given a criminal record. Fixed-penalty notices can also be issued on the spot. Letters were sent to families this summer by council chiefs in Stoke-on-trent. Other local authorities are adopting similar tactics and threatening prosecutions.
Stoke told families that “with immediate effect your wheelie bin must be kept within your property boundary outside of 7pm the night before collection and 7pm the night of collection. You must ensure that the lid is closed”.
One government source said it looked like “displacement activity” by councils. “You crack down on one area of abusive behaviour and they try it elsewhere.”
The Government is prepared to publish a consultation paper that will issue stronger guidance on the use of enforcement powers over bin breaches. A briefing on the plans said: “That guidance will make clear that fixed penalties should only be issued when it is in the public interest to do so, and when it is proportionate to do so. Under no circumstances should councils view the use of fixed penalties for these offences as a means to generate income.”
Town hall leaders defended the use of the CPNS to encourage recycling, saying they would “only ever issue bin fines as an absolute last resort”.
Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s environment spokesman, said: “Only a tiny minority of households persistently leave their waste piled up in the street or wilfully contaminate their recycling.”.
A Stoke council spokesman said: “We appreciate the letter might come over as harsh but this is a legal warning informing people that their actions are causing a problem.”