Councils Need Greater Powers To Tackle Litter (Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats)

Saffron Walden Constituency Liberal Democrats <info@saffronwaldenlibdems.org.uk>

Councils Need Greater Powers To Tackle Litter

May 1, 2008 2:46 PM

Local authorities are not doing enough to prevent rubbish being dumped on the streets. They need greater powers to tackle litter louts.

Peter Wilcock, Saffron Walden Parliamentary Spokesperson said, "The current law on litter is inconsistent and inadequate. It makes it almost impossible to penalise people who throw rubbish from cars. We need to see changes to the law making registered keepers of vehicles responsible for the litter dropped from their car. The car owner would be issued with a fixed penalty notice in the same way as for a speeding offence "

"In the last week, I have dealt with a lady who was so fed up with litter, that she wanted to clean it up herself, but she could not borrow the litter picking tools from Uttlesford District Council to do the job properly. I am also chasing up the Station Manager at Cambridge about the excessive litter on station land in Newport."

"Litter and rubbish is becoming an ever increasing problem in this area, and we need Councils to do something radical to reverse the rising trend in litter, and to encourage those littering to "Take it home".

The author Bill Bryson, president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has launched 'Stop the drop' - a campaign to halt the littering of England's countryside. The CPRE claims a recent survey found that litter and fly-tipping were a growing problem across England in both rural and urban areas, and that local authority performance had dropped from satisfactory to unsatisfactory.