Don't Muck Around Environmental Campaign
Aims of the campaign are to put the brakes on car litter louts; clip the wings of fly-tippers and to go barking mad at dog fouling.
EVERY year, the Council is inundated with calls and complaints about the same three issues – litter, fly-tipping and dog fouling.
The Council has launched the ‘Don’t Muck Around’ campaign to target offenders, raise awareness of the issue and ultimately achieve a reduction in the number of incidents.
The campaign will run for three months, from June until August, with final results collated and announced in September.
Aims
Put the brakes on car litter louts: Enforcement officers will use CCTV cameras to catch people who throw litter from their cars at McDonald’s drive thru restaurants. The success of this strand will be measured by litter reduction and prosecutions.
Clip the wings of fly-tippers: The Council will use covert cameras, intelligence and tip offs to target fly-tippers and bring them to justice. The success of this strand will be measured by the number of reports received or the number of fly tips recorded.
Go barking mad at dog fouling: The Council will increase patrols at designated dog fouling hotspot areas to target offenders. Success of this strand will be measured by the amount of dog foul monitored before and after the campaign period.
Grime and Punishment - Your Guide
- Litter - is simply people leaving waste in parks, streets, stuck to pavements or dropping it out of car windows. It can be anything from a small piece of chewed gum to large bags of rubbish. Littering is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and an immediate Fixed Penalty can be issued for £80 and - if convicted in court, fines of up to £2,500 can be imposed.
- Fly Tipping - is the illegal and unwanted disposal of household and trade waste in the open countryside, by the side of roads and on private land. Many tips can be hazardous to public health. For this reason the offence of fly-tipping has a court-imposed penalty of up to £50,000 or up to five years in jail for the most serious offences.
- Dog fouling - It is an offence for a person not to remove the faeces of any dog in their charge immediately from any land open to the air which the public are entitled or permitted to have access with or without payment. Offenders can be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice of £80. A discounted rate of £50 will apply if the payment is received by the Council within 10 days of issue of the notice. Any person failing to pay a Fixed Penalty Notice after 14 days may be taken to court and if found guilty of an offence could face a fine of up to £1,000.
Foul Facts
Charnwood Borough Council has issued 272 Fixed Penalty Notices for litter since April 2008, 52 of those were for car litter which equates to 19 per cent of the total.
The Council has prosecuted 34 people in court for fly-tipping since April 2008 and 25 for litter offences following non-payment of a Fixed Penalty Notice.
In 2009/10, Charnwood Borough Council received 196 complaints about dog fouling mainly in residential areas and parks.
Report it
If you know of an offender or want to report an incident, call in confidence on 01509 263151 or email cleaner.greener@charnwood.gov.uk.
