Protest against the use of ‘heavy-handed’ litter firm

A PROTEST is set to be held against Wrexham Council’s use of a controversial litter enforcement firm.

The authority is now the last in north Wales to use Kingdom to issue £75 fines for littering and dog fouling after it gave notice to cancel its contract with Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy earlier this week.

Campaigners have said they will now be holding a rally outside the town’s Guildhall in September, asking councillors in Wrexham to follow suit.

Plaid Cymru councillor Marc Jones, who recently had a motion to scrap the Kingdom contract turned down by executive board members, said the protest was being organised to highlight opposition to the Merseysidebased business.

He said: “Opposition to Wrexham council’s contract with Kingdom has grown over the months as more and more people have been criminalised and unfairly targeted.

“At the start of the year Kingdom had a contract with every council in north Wales – now it’s just Wrexham as all the other councils have either scrapped their contracts or were planning to do so.”

Cllr Jones said the protest will be held at noon on Saturday, September 8, and all are welcome to attend.

All three councils Kingdom withdrew from had signalled their intention to explore their options for litter enforcement after some people in the region accused the company of “heavy-handed tactics”.