Highland zero tolerance campaign to be repeated in the new year

A recent ‘zero tolerance’ campaign on litter and fly-tipping undertaken by The Highland Council has proved to be a success and will be repeated in the new year.

Dingwall, Fort William and Inverness were the focus of a two-week purge at the beginning of this month during which time Council enforcement officers issued 26 fixed penalty notices, the large majority for the dropping of cigarette butts.

The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 introduced fixed penalty notices for littering and fly-tipping and the penalty is £50.

The Council’s Enforcement Team witnessed a large number of people demonstrating good practice and using the litter bins and gum and butt bins which are available.

On occasion the Enforcement Team were met with some hostility when issuing the FPNs, but the  the approach continued to be one of zero tolerance.

Richard Guest,  Head of Roads and Community Works, said: “The message is quite clear. There is no excuse for dropping litter.  In Inverness High Street alone there are over 40 receptacles for cigarette butts. Future campaigns planned for 2011 will cover more areas including; Nairn, Grantown, Aviemore, Alness, Invergordon, Tain, Wick and Thurso.”

Councillor John Laing, Chairman of Transport Environmental and Community Services, said:  “I am pleased to see the zero tolerance approach is working.  We are determined to get  the message across that dropping litter is a criminal offence. It is vitally important to ensure that we reduce the amount of litter dropped on our streets. We spend £2.5 million per year on litter picking. With less litter to pick, we can divert our staff into other more productive duties.”

For further information please contact: Debbie Maguire, Community Works Manager, The Highland Council TEC Services tel: 01463 703110/07833 614396.