Environmental Enforcement Officers set to join Wyre Council’s fight against offenders

Dog Walkers Beware

Wyre council has listened to concerns and recognised that many customers and businesses have had enough and want more action to be taken to tackle issues such as littering and irresponsible dog ownership.

Under the new deal, the council working with District Enforcement will have more authorised officers patrolling the streets and public open spaces. It has also been agreed that the charge for fixed penalty notice (FPN) for those caught littering to be changed from previously £80 to £100.

District Enforcement will send Environmental Enforcement Officers armed with body cameras out to catch litterbugs, those who dump cigarettes, do not pick up after their dogs and do not have their dogs on a lead where required.

Councillor Simon Bridge, Portfolio Holder for Street Scene, Parks and Open Spaces, commented ‘Initially, District Enforcement will be designated to enforce littering, littering out of cars, dog fouling and breaches of other dog related Public Space Protection Orders. It is envisaged that other measures may be introduced as the partnership becomes more established. District Enforcement will manage the FPN process with regard to issuing, tracking, complaints resolution and financial management. Where it appears that an offender has failed to pay a FPN issued, the District Enforcement will compile a prosecution case file for the use of Wyre’s legal team.”

This is a pilot scheme which will run initially for 12 months with the scheme to be reviewed after this period. There will be no expense to the authority and any surplus will be invested back into the authority to tackle the ‘cleaner greener’ agenda of Wyre Council.

Deployment will be area based to allow the teams to work in areas identified by council officers that need attention with specific offences and objectives but will also allow District Enforcement to issue FPNs.

This will supplement the work of the current council officers with a remit for enforcement but allow them be more proactive to change behaviour and spend more time investigating other environmental offences such as fly tipping that require a longer time to investigate.

Environmental Enforcement Officers will be patrolling the streets of Wyre in October.

For more information on fixed penalty notices, visit www.wyre.gov.uk/fpn