Almost £100,000 From Fines After Crimes Against The Environment In Brighton In Only Three Months

Thursday, 6 August 2020 21:48

By John Warburton @Warblefly

Waste illegally left next to Brighton Beach (Photo: N. Chadwick / Creative Commons)

Nearly 400 fines and penalties have been levied against people and companies committing environmental crime in Brighton and Hove in three months beginning in April.

City Council officials said enforcement officers have issued the fines for a range of environmental offences including littering and fly-tipping .

Despite lockdown and Covid-19, its staff claimed they'd been "clamping down" as much as possible on a range of environmental crimes.

They said the aim was for a cleaner and tidier city.

Breaking down the figures, the city has issued 191 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) at £150 each for littering, including on the beach and seafront, and 84 for fly-tipping at £400.

The council's environmental team said that even rubbish left by the bins can end up in the sea, harming marine life and spoiling the seafront.

Businesses who dump their rubbish unlawfully were also fined: including 49 so-called waste disposal companies who operated illegally by not having the correct licence to dispose of waste.

They received £300 fines.

The total of fines issued so far since the start of the financial year in April totals almost £100,000 from 383 fines.

Officials claimed that the money received is reinvested directly into the environmental enforcement service, meaning the cost to taxpayers is zero.

Councillor Amy Heley, joint chair of the council’s Environment, Transport & Sustainability committee, said:

“These figures show our enforcement officers work extremely hard trying to make the city a cleaner and better place to live, and will continue to do so by fining those people and businesses who flout the law.

“Littering and fly-tipping not only costs the council and therefore council tax payers thousands of pounds every year to clear up, they also ruin the look and feel of our beautiful city.”

Council staff went on to define littering as including everything from cigarette butts, chewing gum, food and food wrappers, bottles, cans, used BBQs and anything else deemed litter.

Fly-tipping is leaving any waste or household items on land or the street without permission, even in the hope someone will take them away for free.

Councillor Heley added:

“There’s no excuse for littering or fly-tipping, as there are thousands of bins throughout the city.

“The council also operates two household waste recycling sites where people can dispose of their waste.

“If a business wants to collect people’s waste and dispose of it, then you must have the proper licences and do it responsibly and lawfully.”

The totals for environmental offences where Fixed Penalty Notices can be issued were: