In our April issue we featured how people who spit in the street in Enfield in north-west London face prosecution and fines of up to £500, enforced by Kingdom Security, after Enfield Council’s historic byelaw was confirmed by the government banning the practice. Canterbury in Kent, Knowsley in Liverpool and Croydon in south London are among councils employing staff from Kingdom Security who can issue fines for dog fouling and street litter. And Merton Council is trialling Kingdom’s Environmental Protection Services for six months.
The council’s own enforcement officers will work alongside the Kingdom enforcement staff to deter people from dropping litter on Merton’s streets and will focus on Wimbledon, Mitcham and Morden town centres. Anyone caught dropping litter is liable to pay a fixed penalty notice of £75. So the public knows that there is more litter enforcement in the borough, there will be a grace period and officers who catch people dropping litter in these town centres will issue them with a warning letter and explain to them that next time they will have to pay the fine. The grace period will run until June 2.
The council has published an anti-litter code, installed gum and cigarette butt bins and high tech smart bins, and teamed up with Love Clean Streets to allow residents to report litter and fly tipping through the free Love Clean Streets smartphone app.
Merton Council’s director for environment and regeneration Chris Lee said: “We are continuing our clamp-down on people who drop litter on our streets. We annually spend £5m clearing litter, graffiti, fly tipping and other environmental crimes from our streets, some of which could be spent on other services. Bringing in extra enforcement on this trial basis will allow us to assess the difference it will make to our streets, which the vast majority of people want to see kept clean. A warm-up period to allow us to talk to people littering, explain the consequences of littering and give them a warning should encourage people to take responsibility for their own rubbish.”
