£100 fine for not putting bin bags in council chute
Thursday 21 July 2011
A council tenant has been forced to pay a £100 on the spot fine for dumping rubbish bags in the communal area of a housing block.
The resident at Tiverton Road, South Tottenham, is the first to be served a fixed penalty notice under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This follows a raft of complaints that residents were leaving bin bags containing food and other waste items in corridors or piled up next to rubbish chutes.
The action follows the start of a new pilot project at 2-240 Tiverton Road and Blenheim Rise, South Tottenham, led by Homes for Haringey in partnership with Haringey Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour and Street Enforcement teams to tackle this persistent dumping of rubbish.
As part of the pilot all residents were issued with warnings in community languages, telling them to dispose of their rubbish in the correct manner or face on the spot penalties.
CCTV cameras were installed in the communal areas and the footage is used as evidence to identify perpetrators.
Homes for Haringey is monitoring progress and intends to gradually roll out the pilot to other council blocks in the borough where serious internal dumping problems have been identified.
Cllr Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for the Environment, said:
“It is unbelievable that people will leave their rubbish lying around when they can easily dispose of it in the chute. It really is not too much to ask that people drop their bags into the chute instead of leaving rubbish in corridors where it can attract vermin and be a real danger to children. We have now warned all residents that if they do not use the correct methods to dispose of their rubbish they will be fined on the spot.”
Jackie Thomas, Homes for Haringey’s Director of Housing Management said: “This fine should serve as a warning to others that we do not tolerate dumping of rubbish in our blocks, and that we have measures in place to deal with perpetrators and enforce them when necessary. Rubbish dumping is a very serious form of anti-social behaviour. With the help of our partners at the Council, we are working to make sure that residents on our estates do not have to put up with this.
Background information
This pilot project is the first in the UK to tackle illegal dumping inside council blocks specifically by serving fixed penalty notices under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Haringey Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Team monitors CCTV footage of the communal areas, and liaises with relevant Homes for Haringey officers to identify individuals responsible for dumping rubbish. They then liaise with Haringey Council’s Tactical Enforcement Team to issue the fixed penalty notices and prosecute offenders if they do not pay £100 or appeal within the 28-day notice period. A person successfully prosecuted for dumping rubbish inside council blocks can be fined up to £2,500.
Enforcement laws covering fly-tipping in open spaces that are accessible to the public do not cover fly-tipping inside council blocks. The only way of dealing with persistent offenders up until now has therefore been for someone to actually witness the person dumping rubbish and reporting the offence as anti-social behaviour resulting in lengthy proceedings for Homes for Haringey to seek to secure a possession order.
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