Council gets tough on poo littering – with £100 on the spot fines in Worksop

Environmental Enforcement Officers will be patrolling the district - starting with Worksop, Retford, Harworth and Tuxford then on to more rural areas.

Though a council spokesman said officers would initially engage with and remind residents to put their litter, cigarette butts and dog poo in a bin or take items home.

Officers have been given powers by Bassetlaw District Council to issue fines of £100 for littering and dog fouling.

Should the fine not be paid the offender could face prosecution and a potential fine of up to £2,500.

Officers will also wear body cameras to capture interaction between themselves and members of the public.

Councillor Julie Leigh, member for environment at Bassetlaw District Council, said: “Littering and dog fouling are some of the most reported issues to councillors and we will be taking a more targeted and proactive approach to tackling these anti-social activities.

READ MORE: Council signs off 27 new homes at Shireoaks Common

“Residents tell us time and again how frustrating it is to see litter, cigarette butts and dog poo out in their communities.

“Our environment services team and caretakers on housing estates work extremely hard to clean up communities but a small minority of people continue to drop litter or fail to clean up after their dog.

“As a consequence Bassetlaw District Council is introducing proactive enforcement to target this unacceptable behaviour.

“We want people to take pride in where they live and we are confident that the professional approach of District Enforcement will help to change people’s attitudes and behaviour and reduce the amount of litter and dog poo on our streets and in our communities.”

Colin Buchanan, head of operations at district enforcement, said: “We have a dedicated team of officers who will on a daily basis patrol the whole borough and take a fair and proportionate approach to the issuance of a fixed penalty notice for any environmental crime offences they witness.”

To find more information about district enforcement and the council’s new policy of issuing fixed penalty notices click HERE.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor