A programme of enforcement patrols by Leeds City Council is taking place in South Leeds.
Councillors David Congreve, Adam Ogilvie and Angela Gabriel (Labour, Beeston & Holbeck) have been keen to secure the patrols following numerous complaints about littering and dog fouling from local residents.
The patrols, carried out by LCC Environmental Services, tackle a different area of the city each weekend. The aim of the patrols is to enforce littering, dog fouling and other environmental crimes, and to offer advice and education to the community about responsible attitudes.
At the recent patrol in Beeston & Holbeck, enforcement officers issued six £75 fines to people caught littering, walking their dogs without leads and not picking up dog waste. The officers also spoke to approximately 85 members of the public advising them of regulations regarding dogs and littering and handed out leaflets, dog waste bags and cigarette/chewing gum waste pouches. Two stray dogs were also picked up and kennelled.
Councillor David Congreve said:
“I and my colleagues receive many complaints about litter and dog fouling from residents and we welcome this initiative. I fully support officers doing this difficult job. Although most of the public are responsible, the few are not cause real concern for the community.
“The cost of street cleaning and litter picking to the Council is staggering and the health hazards from dog waste are severe. We know that keeping communities clean and safe is important to local people. That is why we want to be proactive about enforcing environmental laws and educating the public on these important issues.”
Great idea – are they coming down to the Heaths estate? It is CARPETED in dog doo. Complaining to the council sometimes gets the pavements cleaned but a few weeks pass and it’s as bad as ever. Get fed up of clearing it off the pavement/disinfecting baby’s pram wheels/steering toddler away from the mountains of the stuff.
Excellent – can we know at a future date how many of the fines are paid? How about a rolling report to Area Committee providing information on how many person hours have been spent on patrols and what action has taken place how many people have been fines and paid their fines? How about getting really radical and using suitably trained volunteers to support this activity and giving them powers to issue fines?!
Great points Steve.
There’s an interesting post on ‘Beyond Guardian Leeds’ today referring in turn to an article on the BBC’s website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-22206554) entitled ‘Leeds City Council uses security staff as litter wardens’
Apparently,
‘Five employees from 3GS will be able to issue £75 fines for littering or dog fouling in parts of Leeds during a six-month trial.
‘The city council said it will not be charged for the extra wardens but 3GS will receive a percentage of every fine issued by its staff.
It goes on:
‘The extra wardens will target anyone “blatantly dropping litter” or not picking up after their dog.
‘Extra patrols will take place around the city centre as well as areas in the north and west of Leeds including Otley, Adel, Bramhope and Cookridge, which were chosen due to high levels of complaints about littering.’
It’s not a big surprise that those ares have the highest number of complaints but do they really have the worst problem?
What measures are in place to stop 3GS being ‘over robust’ in their approach given the financial incentive they have?
What happens when people don’t pay their fines?
Given the numbers of retired people in the areas mentioned in north and west Leeds why can’t this be done on a volunteer basis with a proportion of the fines going into a community chest?
Why can’t we have something similar in south Leeds using properly trained and accredited local volunteers?