Fines for fly-tipping are to be increased as it was argued more needs to be done to punish those who put their rubbish out early.
Waste and littering was a big discussion point at a meeting of South Holland District Council last week.
It led to it portfolio holder for the environment Anthony Casson saying the authority is set to up its on-the-spot fines to £250 for littering and £1,000 for fly-tipping.
Those are the penalties handed out by the authority’s partner councils, Boston and East Lindsey.
South Holland currently only fines people £150 and £400 for litter and fly-tipping respectively.
Coun Michael Booth raised the issue, saying litter could be worse on dry rural fields in summer, citing glass bottles potentially causing fires as an example.
He also called for Spalding tip to be open more than its current five days a week, though that is operated by Lincolnshire County Council and not South Holland District Council.
Coun Casson responded that he would support that call and said a recent task group had recommended the district council increase fines in line with its South and East Lincolnshire Council partners.
Coun Bryan Alcock raised the issue of early presentation of waste and urged Kingdom, the team that the authority employs to deal with fly-tipping and littering, to do more on it.
“In some cases it’s being put out a week ahead of the collection date” he said. “Some small cul de sacs seem to use their end of the road as a means of storing the sacks without having them on their own property.”
Coun Casson responded: “I go out with Kingdom at least once or twice a month and they always look at when streets are to be collected and yes, there has been some prosecutions from early presentations if they are put out on the wrong day,” he said. “There’s a bit of a leeway, but if a collection is not due for three or four days, they look through the bags and hopefully get some addresses and prosecutions.”
Coun James Le Sage added: “It’s pleasing to see fly tipping is down 14 per cent but we have some major hot spots in Spalding town centre.
“Why are Kingdom not visiting these sites every day and checking the rubbish?
“If we’re going to get nice, pretty shops in the town centre to attract people into this town then we need to make sure the town is clean and free from rubbish.
“Surely Kingdom should be out every single day checking the bags and taking the appropriate action?
“If we can spend the time putting a yellow sticker on the bag, why aren’t we taking the time to chase people up and issue the fines.”
“There are three Kingdom officers dealing with all of South Holland, so they can’t visit everywhere in Spalding where there’s a problem every day and there are other towns besides Spalding,” answered Coun Casson.
“They’re doing a grand job as far as I’m concerned and getting quite a lot of
prosecutions.”
