New fines for extreme anti-social behaviour could soon be brought in by the city council.
IF next week’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability committee (ETS) agrees, people caught spitting, urinating or defecating in public places will receive an on-the-spot fine of £75.
The move comes after a rise in complaints to the council around these types of activities.
Cllr Anne Pissaridou, the new chair of the council’s ETS committee, said: “Spitting, urinating and defecating are regarded by a vast majority of people as anti-social habits and can have a number of dangerous health implications.
“With a rise in these activities coupled with a surge in the number of complaints we receive, we want to make it clear that this behaviour will not be tolerated.”
At present, the council’s environmental enforcement officers only issue Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) fines to individuals for:
♦ littering
♦ fly-tipping
♦ fly-posting
♦ graffiti
♦ dog poo
♦ the uncontrolled distribution of leaflets.
These are given out, by law, in a bid to keep the city’s streets, parks and open spaces clean and tidy. But, spitting, urinating and defecating will now be included in the list, with fines being issued under Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
On March 1 this year, the council brought the environmental enforcement team in-house after it ended its contract with controversial contractor 3GS.
Since then the team has issued just over 240 fines, mainly to individuals for littering and businesses for illegally dumping waste.
Cllr Pissaridou added: “It’s necessary to take this enforcement action as these types of anti-social behaviour affect us all.
“They have a harmful effect on the city and add to the already huge amount of cleaning, collection and disposal of rubbish and waste.
“With almost 300,000 residents and more than 11 million visitors a year, keeping the city clean will never be an easy task.
“But I promise that in my new role I will do everything I can to make it happen.”
The environmental enforcement service is funded by income raised from the FPNs. Any extra money from collecting fines is reinvested into improving rubbish and recycling services.
Under government guidelines, the council isn’t allowed to use enforcement as a way of making money.
Once again this year Security and Event Solutions will provided security personnel for the evening and the tables in the ballroom will be dressed by Billie Lewis Promotions.
A new group to the city, ONE PLANET aims to be welcoming, inclusive and community/ outward looking.
A spokesperson for Trans Pride, said: “We’ve had several health and personal issues and it is in the light of this that we’ve had to make the difficult decision to cancel the conference. We wanted to make sure that we could give it the time and attention it needs to make it a success, which given our current commitments, we can’t in good conscience do because we don’t have the capacity. We hope that the conference will be able to go ahead in future years and that this valuable resource can return for 2020.”
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