Council criticised for failing to stamp out litter, dog fouling and fly tipping

Cheshire East Council is being criticised for it's 'pathetic' approach to dealing with litter dropping, dog fouling and fly tipping.

Figures obtained by UKIP Councillor Brian Silvester via a Freedom of Information request have shown that Cheshire East's has not issued any fines at all for fly tipping in the past seven years.

This compares with 684 fines issued for dropping litter in the past seven years, however less than a third of the fines (219) have actually been paid.

Additionally, during the same period, between 2009 and 2016, a total of 110 fines were issued across the Borough for dog fouling with just under half of these (53) having been paid.

Councillor Brian Silvester said,"The Council has been formed since 2009. In that time there have been a multitude of complaints of fly tipping across the Borough. The Council have said repeatedly that they would take tough action to stamp out the scourge of fly tipping. So what has happened ? Precisely nothing.

"In seven years the Council has not issued ONE fine for fly tipping. Not one."

He added "In 2016 so far,157 litter fines have been handed out but just 8% have been paid. People are being allowed to drop litter with impunity and they are getting away with it. Even those that are fined are just ignoring them and not paying. There is no deterrent to litter dropping.

"On dog fouling, in 2016 so far, 20 fines have been handed out but just 30% have been paid. What is the point of handing out dog fouling fines when they are not paid? Fines cease to be a deterrent if dog owners just rip them up and there is no consequence for doing so.

"The performance by Cheshire East on litter, dog fouling and fly tipping has been disastrous. Those responsible for this failure should go and be replaced with a team that will issue far more fines and make sure they are paid. If that was done it it would make Cheshire East a cleaner, better, greener Borough to live."