Agenda item

Ben Jackson, Public Protection, Anti-Social Behaviour and Licensing Service Manager:

a.    presented a report to brief members on the process and consideration given to date to increase the fixed penalty notices in relation to environmental crime

b.    advised that on 7 June 2023, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that the maximum fee for on-the-spot fines for litter, graffiti and fly-tipping were set to rise

c.    referred to the table at 4.2 of the report and explained the current Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) and the new maximum FPN’s which were in line with the legislation and proposal

d.    explained that the ability to prosecute for offences remained open to Local Authorities where issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice would not be considered appropriate. This would continue to be the preferred approach in cases of serious or repeat fly tipping

e.    advised that in 2021/22 seven fixed penalty notice had been issued for fly tipping and there was one prosecution, for 2022/23 twenty seven fixed penalty notices had been issued for fly tipping and the were no prosecutions

f.     requested that the committee considered and commented on the proposals to increase the fixed penalty notice fees as set out at paragraph 4.2 of the report:

Question: What was a duty of care fixed penalty notice?

Response: A duty of care fixed penalty notice related to thecontracting of waste disposal for example when somebody removed waste on another person’s behalf without the relevant licence and then the waste was fly tipped. If the individual  worked with the Council to identify the contractor then a fixed penalty notice would not be issued to the individual.

Question: How many fixed penalty notices had been issued for duty of care?

Response: This information would be circulated following the meeting.

Question: What was the difference between fly tipping and littering?

Response: Littering was anything dropped in a public place, from sweet wrappers to bin liners or household rubbish whereas fly tipping could include anything from single bags to several tons of waste.

Question: Would the fixed penalty fine be the same for one single bag of rubbish as it would be for a large lorry load of waste?

Response: Yes, the same fine would apply.

Question: Why was it not proposed to increase the fixed penalty notice fine to the maximum level permitted?
Response: There was potential that people would not pay the fine and it would have to go to prosecution. There would be an increased cost to the council associated with prosecution and the court could issue a lesser fine than the fixed penalty notice.

Question: Did other Lincolnshire authorities issue the maximum fixed penalty charge?

Response: Yes, but this was in more rural areas where there was larger scale fly tipping rather than in urban areas like Lincoln.

Question: What was the reasoning behind the proposed fines?

Response: There had to be a balance between the fine acting as a deterrent and also that people could afford to pay the fine. The cost of disposing the waste was also taken into consideration for example the fine needed to be more than it would cost to hire a skip.

Question: How much did it cost to dispose of the waste left by fly tipping?

Response: This information would be circulated following the meeting.

RESOLVED that the proposal to increase the Fixed Penalty Notice Fees as set out at paragraph 4.2 of the report be supported.