Thursday 26 October 2017
Maximum on-the-spot litter fines are to almost double from £80 to £150 from April next year.
It is part of the government’s new measures to deal with litter louts, which includes fines for owners of vehicles from which litter is thrown, regardless of who discarded it.
The changes follow a public consultation, which found more than 85% of people were in favour of increasing fixed penalties for littering while local authorities agreed new fines to tackle littering from cars would help improve environmental quality in their areas.
The government is however urging that councils must not abuse the power to impose fines and should take into account local circumstances, like ability to pay, when setting the level of the fines.
Cleaning up the streets and countryside costs the taxpayer almost £800 a year.
Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said: “Littering blights our communities, spoils our countryside and taxpayers’ money is wasted cleaning it up.
“Throwing rubbish from a vehicle is just as unacceptable as dropping it in the street and we will tackle this antisocial behaviour by hitting litter louts in the pocket. These new fines will make sure the perpetrators, not the local community, bear the cost of keeping our streets and roads clean.”
Legislation will be introduced by the end of this year to bring in the proposals, subject to parliamentary approval, next year.