A council could bring in a private firm to issue fines to litter louts, flytippers and people failing to pick up after their dogs.

In a bid to crack down on these issues, Canterbury City Council is considering re-hiring company Kingdom LA Support - which in an "infamous" incident six years ago fined a retired couple for dropping cherry pips in Canterbury.

At a meeting on July 8, the local authority's community committee will decide whether to re-employ the firm on a three-month trial basis, to provide enforcement officers who would be dedicated to patrolling hotspots across the district.

The Kingdom officers would have the power to issue fines - known as fixed penalty notices (FPNs) - and would take part in operations to tackle littering on the coast, in parks and on high streets.

Kingdom was previously employed by Canterbury City Council (CCC) between 2014 and 2016.

A memorable episode during that period saw "overzealous" workers fine a retired couple from Deal fined £160 for littering, after they dropped a handful of cherry stones on the floor, having enjoyed a bag of the fruit while sitting beneath a tree.

In a report set to be considered by the community committee, CCC’s head of safer neighbourhoods, Doug Rattray, acknowledged this incident.

“Many will recall the infamous ‘cherry pips’ case during Kingdom’s last spell with us," he said.

But he assured: "No quotas are set per officer in respect of FPNs.

“Kingdom’s relationships with any members of the public would be required to be conducted in a professional, courteous and helpful manner with due care and consideration given to special situations and circumstances.”

During Kingdom's previous stint - which saw 97% of fines issued for dropping cigarette butts - the firm created an enormous amount of work for the city council. This included processing fines, dealing with payments and complaints, and preparing files for court and then attending hearings.

But this time around, Kingdom would carry out all back-office work including collecting the money from fines, dealing with complaints and preparing court cases for those that refuse to pay.

In return, Kingdom would keep 70% of the money collected from fines and the remaining 30% would go to the council - which would oversee the responses to complaints and tell Kingdom where to send its officers.

Kingdom would also provide its staff with body-worn cameras.

Mr Rattray says the council currently faces "huge demand" for environmental enforcement activity, to combat issues such as commercial waste, flytipping, littering, dog fouling and flyposting.

“Many of these matters on the more serious end of things, require lengthy investigation and the preparation of quality evidence in the way of case reports for court," he said.

“This is all very time-consuming and mitigates against the use of officers for necessary visible street patrols.

“The support of a private company would enable us to dedicate time to more serious matters by freeing our in-house staff to deal with investigations.”

The report warns that employing Kingdom would see a significant increase in the number of fines issued, which could prompt comments and complaints on social media.

Cllr Ashley Clark, lead councillor for enforcement and open spaces, said: “The problems with litter on the coast and elsewhere across the district have been well publicised and have been multiplied by the fact the pandemic means people will head to our coast rather than abroad.

"When the sun comes out, it appears the litter louts come out too.

“If this measure is approved by the committee, it will add to the action we are already taking by increasing the resources dedicated to cleaning up after other people.

“Of course, if Kingdom takes to the streets we hope its team struggles to find people to fine because everyone is behaving responsibly and beyond reproach.

“Unfortunately, so far this summer that has not been our experience or that of other coastal councils.”

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