People who litter can be handed £80 fines

by Jess Banham

A record more than 4,500 fines for littering were issued in Kent last year – but more than a third went unpaid.

As many as 4,600 fixed penalty notices for dropping rubbish in the county were handed out in the year to April, which is quadruple the number issued in 2009.

District and borough councils have the power to issued fines of up to £80 to anyone caught dropping rubbish – including cigarette butts.

Just two thirds of the total fines issued last year were paid straight away, however some might have been cancelled on appeal or paid later in court.

The majority of fines were handed out in just one town centre – Maidstone. In the County Town, 3,967 fines were issued.

In comparison, five councils in Kent issued fewer than 10 fines throughout the whole of last year, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show.But Andrew Marshall, who owns Head and Hart jewellers in Maidstone’s King Street, does not think the town is any cleaner.

He said: "Watching somebody commit the offence, smoke a whole cigarette and throw it on the floor, and then go over and issue them a fine doesn’t make sense to me.

"What generates the most litter in a town? Fast food stores would be one of the things. Why don’t you go to the fast food stores and say ‘what are you going to do about littering?’ Issuing fines isn’tstopping it."

Maidstone Town Council launched a zero-tolerance approach to litter in July.

Council spokesman Roger Adley said: "We spend an enormous amount of taxpayers’ money keeping Maidstone clean and don’t think it’s fair that a minority of litterbugs should be allowed to ruin it for everyone else."

Meanwhile, Dover District Council, which has not issued a single fine in the last three years, said it intends to discuss possible ways of cracking down on the offence.

A spokesman said: "The cabinet meeting on June 11 will be considering proposals to use a range of enforcement powers to strengthen the council’s approach to enforcement of littering and other such offences.

"This will include the use of fixed penalty notices, although this is only one of a number of enforcement powers available to the council."

Police Community Support Officers are also able to issue litter fines, but handed out just two in Kent last year.

Barry Spruce, from Kent Police, said: "PCSOs do not have targets for issuing tickets and under most circumstances where littering is observed a request to pick the litter up and dispose of it correctly is sufficient to solve the problem."