Litter enforcement scheme in Wyre is extended to 2021

More fixed penalty notices have been handed out in Wyre after a pilot scheme was introduced

The initiative was launched in October 2018 for a 12 month trial period but was then extended beyond its first year for another six months until May this year.

Now another extension has been agreed at Wyre Council.

Private firm District Enforcement Ltd handed out 3,425 fixed penalty notices during the calendar year of 2019, solely for people dropping cigarette butts.

In its first three months, between October 2018 and January 2019, 1,319 notices were issued – including dozens for dog fouling.

In contrast, the authority only gave out just four dog fouling fines in 14 months before the scheme was introduced.

Between February and April last year, 1,321 fines were dished out – bringing in £8,100 to the council, although Wyre gets 12.5 per cent of revenue raised, with the rest going to District Enforcement.

Of those fines, 1,263 were for dropping litter, 34 for Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) dog offences, and 24 were cancelled.

A new council report stated: “Although the council has campaigned, educated and enforced both on littering and dog fouling, it continues to be a concern for communities as reflected through the Life in Wyre surveys.

“The physical resource intensive nature of the task has meant that the council has not been able to meet customer expectation within existing staffing levels and so

chose to pilot the current arrangement.”

The council says District Enforcement operators have complimented the work of its in-house staff.

Despite its apparent success, the scheme has come in for some criticism from a small minority, with some of the people targeted suggesting that the enforcers, who are armed with a camera for evidence-taking, have been overzealous.

A small number of individuals have taken their complaints to an appeal process.

But Wyre Council says the project is so far meeting its objective of keeping the borough cleaner, particularly in the areas which experience most offending, the borough’s more populous areas of Fleetwood, Cleveleys/Thornton and Poulton/Carleton.

Coun Alan Vincent, resources portfolio holder, agreed that the scheme be extended.