Litter fines double
Plan to raise penalty from £80 to £150 – and £300 for late payers
LITTER louts face on-thespot fines of £150 under plans being drawn up by ministers.
Town halls have been asking for the penalty to increase sharply from £80 and to rise to £300 for those pay late.
They would be able to use the proceeds as they wish – raising fears that councils will use litter patrols as a cash cow.
Councils have had the power to hand out spot fines for littering, and other offences including dog fouling and fly-posting, for more than 25 years.
Theresa May’s election manifesto promised to ‘do more to reduce litter’, and a review of the level of fines has been launched.
Officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs believe existing fines raise only ‘relatively small’ amounts.
Originally litter fines were set at a flat rate of £10, and for the past 11 years the maximum fine has been £80, which can be reduced to £50 for those who pay promptly.
Councils were told that fines would keep pace with inflation if they were raised to £100.
Defra also told town halls that to encourage fast payment fines should be doubled for anyone who fails to pay within 28 days.
But a large majority of local authorities who took part in a consultation have now told told Environment Secretary Michael Gove and his officials that they want the power to levy fines of £150 for littering.
A late payer would have to hand over £300 – an amount nearly four times the present highest fine.
Councils have also asked for the right to spend the money they bring in from litter fines on anything they want to use it for.
Currently the revenue is used mainly for environmental and flytipping enforcement and clear-up.
The proposals include a watering down of the qualifications needed by officials who hand out fines. Parish council staff will no longer be required to attend training courses before they are given the right to hand out fixed penalty notices. Allison Ogden-Newton of Keep Britain Tidy said: ‘We know people want something done about litter and fining those who flout the law is an important tool for local authorities that want to tackle littering. Cleaning up after careless litterers costs almost £1billion a year, which is money that could be spent elsewhere.’
But Keep Britain Tidy said it did not support the full fine increase or the eased restrictions on collection. Miss Ogden-Newton added: ‘We support an increase in fines to £100 but we also believe that enforcement should be done by trained staff in line with Defra’s guideline.
‘Badly done enforcement can lose public support and alienate even those who want to see action to tackle the problem.’
The Taxpayers’ Alliance said it was sceptical about the motives of some local authorities.
Campaign manager James Price said: ‘Taxpayers are already under a 30-year high tax burden, thanks in no small part to seemingly everincreasing council tax.
‘If that wasn’t enough, councils have also been increasing the amount they raise from residents in various fines, charges and fees.
‘These latest attempts to raise even more cash from hard-pressed taxpayers is too much and councils ought to recognise the cost of living crisis high tax is creating.’
The consultation paper issued by Defra to local councils and other bodies said: ‘Littering, and associated environmental offences like dog fouling, blight our communities and impose avoidable costs on the public purse, drawing money away from priorities such as social care and education.’
It said fines had not changed since 2006, ‘but adjusting for inflation since that time means that a maximum penalty of £80 in 2006 would now be £100’.
A Defra spokesman said: ‘ We received a number of responses to our proposals to increase fines on serious litterers. We are considering those responses and will set out next steps in due course.’
‘Sceptical about the motives’