Residents fined for piles of waste

Recent prosecutions have highlighted the responsibilities of home owners to keep bin yards and properties in South Leeds clear of waste.

In three separate cases environmental action officers issued warnings before serving community protection notices on six individuals to compel them to take action and clean up waste accumulating in their bin yards and yard.

Community protection notices direct people to stop causing a problem that is having a detrimental impact on the quality of life of people in their neighbourhood.

In all cases, the property owners and tenant ignored the community protection notices so were issued fixed penalty notices.

As these remained unpaid and with rubbish still in place, all six were called but failed to appear before Leeds magistrates yesterday (Monday 9 May 2016) and were found guilty in their absence.

Bhupinder and Manmeet Chana and Nicholas and Aicha Levachoff, of Marley Terrace, Beeston, all have a responsibility for their shared bin yard.

Environmental action officers were called to investigate accumulations of bags of rubbish, cardboard boxes and a sofa in the bin yard in May 2015.

Ignoring the community protection orders resulted in all four individuals receiving a £220 fine and being ordered to pay £193 in costs each and a £22 victim surcharge each.

Also in May 2015, environmental officers received complaints about household waste, beds and mattresses left in another bin yard on Marley Terrace.

Owner Darren Turnor, was fined £220, must pay a victim surcharge of £22 and pay costs of £386 as he too failed to take action as required by the community protection order.

All five will receive another bill once the council has cleared the bin yards.

Natasha Ellis, Belle Isle Road, Middleton, was warned by environmental action officers to remove waste piling up in her yard.

Breaching the community protection order compelling her to take action resulted in a £220 fine with magistrates ordering Ellis to also pay a £22 victim surcharge and £493 costs.

Councillor Mark Dobson, executive member for environmental protection and community safety, said:

“As a home owner or tenant you have a duty to keep your property and bin yard clear of accumulated rubbish.

“The sad and frustrating reality is that the council will continually have to deal with cases like these until people take responsibility for managing their own property and waste properly.

“You can’t ignore rubbish piling up in your yard in the hope that someone else will deal with it. We have services in place that allow people to dispose of rubbish properly and with a little common sense and elbow grease these fines could have been easily avoided.”