Causeway Coast and Glens councillors hit out at litter and dog fouling enforcement targets

It follows an update report on the council’s litter strategy for 2022 to 2026, which was presented to members at an Environmental Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, September 10, and aimed to improve enforcement outcomes for incidents of littering, dog fouling and fly-tipping.

The updated strategy includes the use of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 which will allow for greater penalties for fly tipping offences.

Additionally, council will introduce Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for the service of Fixed Penalty Notices, with each of the council’s eight Environmental Wardens expected to serve two notices per month for litter offences and one per month for dog fouling.

DUP Alderman John McAuley said he welcomed the introduction of KPI’s, but said: “We’re basically telling somebody they need to do three penalty notices in the month, which is not even one a week.

“We’ll hardly notice the difference in the high streets, so are we being real about this here or are we just toying about with it?”

Director of Environmental Services, Aidan McPeake, said the targets would be a “considerable improvement” on the number of fines recently issued by the council.

He added: “It would be a vast improvement on other councils’ achievements as well, so we think this is a good start and it’s a realistic target to meet. If we achieve higher than that then we, of course, will reassess the targets for following years.”

Mr McPeake said wardens had wide-ranging duties including the investigation of dog attacks, which is “very time consuming”.

Alliance Councillor Lee Kane proposed deferring approval of the report until next month’s committee meeting, to allow further consideration. He also argued that enforcement was a deterrent and not a “money-making scheme for the council”.

He said: “It’s not somewhere we’re looking to generate income, it’s getting out a clear message that not cleaning up after yourself, whether that’s littering or dog fouling, is unacceptable.

“The main thing I just want to take another look at here is those KPI’s, so it’s not just about increasing the number of fines but how we’re using that as a deterrent and encourage people to behave how they’re expected to behave.”

UUP Councillor Darryl Wilson said there was a “general feeling” that dog fouling offences were occurring early in the morning and late in the evening when wardens were off duty, and asked if an initiative to extend or change wardens’ hours of work was possible.

Councillor Wilson added: “The unions had come back and said it wasn’t within the job spec or the remit of the staff, but it’s something I would be keen to explore and I think it could yield greater benefits.”

Mr McPeake agreed conviction levels were much lower in “hours of darkness”, but a budget had been set aside for overtime hours.

“It doesn’t take away from their day-to-day duties,” he said. “And allows an element of funding to target those outside-of-hours patrols where we think we can make most benefit.”