Newham Council is tackling street litter by promising to fine anyone who drops litter.
- Enforcement contract starts in July adding capacity to our existing enforcement team to tackle litter problems
- £150 fixed penalty notices will be issued for dropping any litter
- Cigarette butts, chewing gum and spitting will all be targeted in crackdown
The Council has appointed a contractor – Kingdom Local Authority Support - to tackle the problem of litter on Newham’s streets.
The contractor will add capacity to the Council’s internal team, providing further visible enforcement presence on the streets.
Cllr James Asser, Cabinet Member Environment and Sustainable Transport said:
“Residents have made it clear to us that what they want to see is a cleaner, smarter borough. We are already undertaking lot of action to tackle fly tipping. This is about tackling day to day litter – the smaller items that make a real difference in terms of the look of the borough.”
Cllr Carleene Lee-Phakoe, Cabinet Member for Crime and Community Safety said:
“This contract means we will now enforce against all litter offences. Our expanded enforcement team will ensure we have a clean and tidy borough.
“We’ve agreed to pilot external enforcement support for 18 months to focus on environmental issues and provide more visible proactive enforcement.
“Residents want us to take action on people who needlessly litter. Chucking litter of any kind, cigarette butts, chewing gum or general litter is just not acceptable in Newham.
“Our message is now simple. If you litter. We will fine you.”
The new enforcement team will be enforcing litter offences at high footfall areas from Monday 4 July with the full team enforcing across Newham from 17 July. The team will target problem areas to clear up our streets alongside our existing enforcement team.
As part of building a fairer Newham, the Council will spend £40 million over the next four years to keep our streets and neighbourhoods clean and cut reported fly-tipping by 50 percent. The Council will also increase the number of the Council’s Community Safety Enforcement officers over the next 4 years to tackle ASB on our streets, environmental crime such as fly-tipping and enforce Public Space Protection Orders when they are breached.