A controversial litter warden company which pockets more than two-thirds of fine money could be binned off as city bosses look towards bringing the service back in-house.

National Enforcement Solutions (NES) - the firm contracted by Canterbury City Council (CCC) to issue fixed penalty notices - has earned a reputation for being “overzealous” and targeting ”easy-pickings”.

Now the local authority says the firm’s future will be up for review as soon its contract runs out, and has indicated a desire to have CCC employees take over the job across Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.

But council leader Alan Baldock says the long-term plan is not due to complaints about enforcement officers but rather because of cost.

“Our ultimate aim would be to move towards an in-house solution, but it will not be possible in the short-term,” said the Labour councillor.

“We have a lot of control over the contractors anyway, so setting up more staff in-house is not something we want to do yet because of council finances at the moment.”

A KentOnline investigation in May found that NES had raked in £500,000 in fine money in one year by focussing on the most deprived areas of the district.

At the time, Cllr Baldock suggested the firm had generated the eye-watering sum by “looking for easy pickings” but says the litter wardens have since improved their conduct.

“A considerable amount of time and effort has been spent on getting the enforcement teams to up their game and increase their knowledge on the parameters they are using,” added the council leader.

“They have had increased training and the number of complaints has reduced in recent weeks - we hope to continue in that direction.”

Under the NES contract, the firm keeps 70% of the money brought in by fining members of the public while the remaining cash goes to council coffers.

It is understood that between May 2022 and May 2023, this arrangement saw the firm and CCC net roughly £370,000 and £157,000 respectively.

Bringing littering enforcement in-house could see the council take in greater revenue still.

Whitstable resident Peggy Riley, who was wrongfully approached and “stalked” by an NES officer who incorrectly assumed she was breaking local dog-walking rules, believes the public perception of enforcement officers would be improved if they were employed by the council directly.

“I think it’s a really great idea for it to be brought in-house,” said Ms Riley, 58.

“I think that if it were an in-house service then I would expect the officers to be less heavy-handed with their approach and would hopefully have more local knowledge.

“If the man that approached me would have shown me ID that he was a council employee, that would have put me more at ease.”

Cabinet member for enforcement Cllr Connie Nolan confirmed the option of retaining NES would be re-evaluated after its contract expires in May 2025, but also emphasised the benefits of the current deal.

“The arrangement with NES frees up our own officers to tackle more complex cases such as fly-tipping and dealing with illegal waste carriers.

“As a result, we have had great success over the last 12 months with a number of people being found guilty of these offences.

“There has been some testimony about NES, such as people being wrongly fined and I would remind residents that we take each complaint very seriously and every case brought to our attention is investigated.”

The Labour councillor added she had scheduled a meeting with NES management to discuss areas of concern.

“It should always be remembered that fines for littering are issued with the sole intention of keeping our district clean and stopping people breaking the law,” added Cllr Nolan.

“It’s not about money or income and if people did not drop litter in the first place, no fines would be issued.”