Today’s guest blog comes from from Cllr Steve Pearce, Cabinet Member for Waste, Commercialisation and Regulatory Services.
The government has been consulting on Household & Business recycling recently and the consultation ended yesterday, 13th May. But this is the action that we were taking locally last week to make Bristol’s streets cleaner.
Environmental crime has a significant and wholly detrimental impact on the wellbeing of our residents and to the city’s visitors, so on Tuesday the 7th May I was delighted to approve:
- increasing fixed penalty charges for flyposting, graffiti, distribution of printed matter and fly-tipping
- removal of the early payment rate for flyposting, graffiti, distribution of printed matter, failure to produce waste transfer notes or a waste carriers license, and
- the introduction of a new fixed penalty in relation to the new Domestic Duty of Care.
I believe that removing the early payment rates and increasing penalty rates for some offences sends a clear message that Bristol will not tolerate behaviour that disrespects our fellow citizens.
I should point out that there is no proposal to increase the penalty rate for littering or to remove the reduced rate for early payment in relation to that offence.
The fixed penalty in relation to the new Domestic Duty of Care is a new measure so we have set the fixed penalty rate at £200. This will be reviewed in 12-18 months once it has been more widely publicised.
Our annual Quality of Life Survey highlights that litter, dog fouling and other street scene issues are of particular concern to Bristol residents.
- According to our 2015/16 Quality of Life survey nearly 3/4 of people who responded identified street litter as a problem.
- More than 3/5 of residents felt that dog fouling was a problem in their local area.
- And 30 percent of respondents identified anti-social graffiti as a problem.
It is apparent that these problems are more pronounced in the city centre and some of the more deprived areas of the city.
For example, while 30.3% of respondents identified anti-social graffiti as a problem, that number rose to 47% in the City Centre and over 60% in Ashley Ward.
Groups such as Keep Britain Tidy have also noted that those living in more deprived areas are less likely to feel satisfied with the appearance of their local area compared to those living in more affluent areas.
The approach adopted in the Clean Streets plan emphasises education and community engagement alongside a more robust approach to enforcement.
The Mayor has made a pledge that Bristol will be measurably cleaner by 2020 and the Clean Streets Plan which underpins the pledge is designed to change the behaviour of people in Bristol in order to reduce litter, dog fouling, fly tipping, graffiti and other environmental crimes. This will be done by:
- Sending a clear message
- Cleaning up the city, and by
- A robust, zero tolerance approach to enforcement.
Although the cleanliness of the city has improved in many parts more work needs to be done particularly in relation to behaviour change.
Although between 16/17 and 17/18 there was a reduction in the number of fly-tip incidents of over 12%, the cost of environmental crime to the city remains high. In 17/18, 8206 reports of fly tipping were made to Bristol Waste Company (BWC) costing £392,551 to remove. In the same year we spent £100,000 on removing graffiti.
The Domestic Duty of Care Fixed Penalty S34 (2A) Environmental Protection Act came into force from 7th January 2019. This enables local authorities to issue a FPN to a person who has failed to comply with the duty relating to the transfer of household waste.
The Domestic Duty of Care requirement means that householders must ask the person or business they transfer their waste to (or who arranges the transfer) for evidence of their authorisation, such as a copy of their waste carrier’s registration or proof of their exemption registration issued by the Environment Agency.
The Clean Streets publicity and communications plan will include a campaign to highlight householders responsibilities when making private arrangements to dispose of domestic waste and will highlight low cost/free options for getting rid of unwanted household goods.
Fixed penalties relating to dog fouling and dogs off lead are governed by separate legislation and are already set at the highest level currently available.
Making the streets of Bristol cleaner is one of the key objectives of the 2017-2022 Corporate Strategy. The strategy says that we will put Bristol on course to be run entirely on clean energy by 2050 and introduce a safe, clean streets campaign. The Clean Streets Campaign will be a main focus to help us improve the cleanliness of the city and focus our resources on the areas of highest need.