KINGDOM GONE
A LOCAL authority whose use of a controversial litter enforcement firm lasted just hours will team up with another council or use its own staff in future.
Officers from Kingdom were on the streets of Gwynedd for less ess than a day before the agreement nt was abruptly scrapped in March. h.
Now officials have recommmended Gwynedd works ks with Anglesey – which also o ended its contract with h Kingdom – or use its own employees on litter duties.
Cllr Gareth Griffiths, cabinet member for communities, said Kingdom’s trial, set to last 12 months, had ended “quite quickly” ” but there needed to be “some kind of common mon sense” to ensure the public ublic were not being “threatened”. d”.
Council officer Peter Simpson said: “Kingdom had quite some difficulty in recruiting bilingual staff.”
He added: “There was a feeling that private companies have gone over the top with the number of tickets.”
Members unanimously supported Cllr Stephen Churchman’s proposal to collaborate with neighbouring authorities, and to reconsider the staffing levels at Gwynedd’s own street enforcement unit. At present, people can be fined £100 for littering or dog fouling or £75 if they pay within 10 1 days. There are escalating fines for offenc offences such as fly-tipping. Al Although no longer continuing with its 12-month trial aft after May 2018, Anglesey has a separate agreement with K Kingdom to handle parking u until December. Kingdom is tasked with h handing out fines across C Conwy, Flintshire, Wrexha ham and Denbighshire for off offences such as dropping litt litter, dog fouling and failing to k keep dogs on leads. Th The agreements allow councils to take a cut of the fines, but Kingdom retains most of th the revenue, leading to claims it encourages officers to issue as many fines as possible. These claims are strongly denied by Kingdom. It was also recommended that the council should not to make further cuts to grass cutting of play areas and cemeteries.