6:18pm (UK)
Litter Crackdown 'Will Make Britain Safer'

By Joe Churcher and Nick Mead, PA Political Staff

 

An arsenal of powerful new weapons to tackle the menace of litter, graffiti, noisy pubs, abandoned cars and stray dogs will make Britain “cleaner, safer and greener”, MPs were told today.

Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said tough new on-the-spot punishments would help reduce feelings of “powerlessness and disaffection” in many communities.

Opening debate on the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill, she said: “Few things contribute more to a feeling of powerless and disaffection than the persistence of sometimes relatively small scale but distressing problems that no-one seems willing or able to address.

“If, as our consultation suggests, the powers, the flexibility and the localised focus of the measures in this Bill help to ensure that such issues are addressed then for many of our fellow citizens it would mean real improvement of their quality of life”.

A key part of the Government’s bid to tackle all types of anti-social behaviour, the legislation will allow local authorities – right down to parish councils – to levy spot fines of up to £75.

Offences such as littering, painting graffiti, putting up illegal poster adverts and allowing dogs to foul the footpath will all be punishable by local officials.

Town halls will also be allowed to keep the proceeds of such fines, Mrs Beckett said, to encourage them to use the new powers more.

Councils will be able to close off any alleyways which have become “magnets for crime and anti-social behaviour” by installing security gates.

Abandoned vehicles can also be removed straight away under the new powers – reducing the risk of them becoming targets for arsonists and vandals.

Anti-litter measures include making it an offence to drop litter anywhere – including private property – and making it easier to force fast food outlets to clear up their packaging.

Mrs Beckett said that the Bill also makes clear “once and for all” that discarded cigarette butts and chewing gum do count as litter and could land anyone dropping them in trouble.

It will be made harder for firms to escape responsibility for illegal fly posters advertising their products.

Anyone who leaves rubbish on the street despite having been given “clear instructions” from their local council about collection times could also face spot fines under the legislation.

On a larger scale, fly-tippers will face fines of up to £50,000 in magistrates courts and up to five years in jail and unlimited fines for more serious offences.

New measures will also be put in place to deal with annoying malfunctioning alarms and noisy pubs and clubs as well as lights, such as security lamps, that are too bright or shine into houses.

Councils will also have powers to intervene where residents are blighted with insects as a result of activities such as sewage works.

They will also take over responsibility for stray dogs from the police.

Mrs Beckett said that for the vast majority of people, anxieties about the environment meant concerns over local eyesores in urban and rural areas.

“If we are to create a genuinely sustainable society we have to tackle these more local aspects of environmental degradation and damage as well as our contribution to global warming.

“Moreover, the Bill is an integral part not only of our environmental strategy but of the Government’s strategy for dealing with anti-social behaviour.”

She said “dirty streets, burnt-out cars, piles of fly-tipped rubbish have a self-evident effect” not only cost the taxpayer £3 billion a year to clear up but also fuelled crime.

“The greater cost lies in the contribution of such behaviour – and the attitudes that lie behind it – both to wider criminal behaviour and to making a community that feels neglected and powerless; unsafe and insecure.”