North Somerset Council has signed a one-year contract with an arm of the ACS Pacesetters guarding firm Kingdom to tackle anti-social behaviour. LA Support patrollers will issue £75 fixed penalty notices to anyone seen breaching the council’s public space protection orders.
Mike Solomon, the Weston super Mare-based council’s executive member whose portfolio includes environmental services, said: “We know there is public appetite for increased enforcement – in a recent survey, 90 per cent of respondents said that they wanted to see more on the spot fines issued for dog fouling.” In that ‘Your Neighbourhoods’ consultation, 77 per cent of respondents also agreed that it was reasonable to issue on the spot fines to deal with littering.
John Roberts, national ops director at LA Support said: “Our aim is to help make the area cleaner and safer for residents and visitors alike through visible engagement with the public. We will do all in our power to address the anti-social behaviour which manifests itself in a small section of the community and visitors who continue to blight the landscape by dropping and leaving litter and failing to remove dog faeces.”
The firm has similar contracts around the country; its work in the London borough of Greenwich was featured in the June 2021 print edition of Professional Security magazine.
Photo by Mark Rowe; Weston super Mare high street, morning.
