Council to take tougher line on litter, dog fouling and fly-tipping

Bridgend County Borough Council will take a tougher stance on waste issues after changes to the Fixed Penalty Notice policy were agreed by Cabinet.

Waste deposit offenders such as fly-tippers will now face a fixed penalty of £400, with £200 being accepted as an early payment penalty. This is double the previous level of the fixed penalty notice.

Legislation regarding commercial waste has also been included in order to deal with town centre areas as well as vehicle offences.

These include the ability to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for abandonment of vehicles, and for where vehicles are parked on the road merely in order to be sold, causing a nuisance to residents in an area.

This is aimed at situations where traders are selling more than two vehicles from their properties in residential areas, causing issues for residents.

Bridgend County Borough Council has previously taken an approach of educating residents and warning offenders, prior to issuing formal Fixed Penalty Notices.

This has proved effective and most incidents have a positive outcome when dealt with in this manner. We intend to continue with this as part of our waste offence strategy and earlier this month, four new education and enforcement officers started with the authority to enable us to focus more resources in this area.

Each Fixed Penalty Notice will be considered on its individual merits, matters of proportionality, objectivity, fairness and reasonableness, while also meeting the criminal standard of proof.

Deputy Leader Hywel Williams