Proposals for tougher fines for those littering and leaving dog poo on the streets of Wirral have been called “unbelievable” by a local community group.
Wirral Council is currently proposing handing over a contract to a company to tackle issues around dog poo, littering, and fly tipping across Wirral. This comes as more people are complaining about dog poo issues, with some even going so far as to rename their street “dog s*** alley.”
The tougher fines are part of proposals in this year’s budget to help close the council’s £32m budget gap by raising £150,000 through a third party contractor. However the decision to move back to contracting out tougher action has prompted concerns in New Brighton with residents voicing fears a company could go for “easy targets” rather than tackle what they call real issues.
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Previous contractor Kingdom was accused of targeting small businesses and people for dropping sweet wrappers with Wirral Council ending its contract with the firm in 2019.
Sean Martin, who leads the New Brighton Coast Community group, said: “About three or four years ago we had enforcement both in Liverpool and on the Wirral and in both areas it was an absolute disaster. It drew a big wedge between the council and the residents of the Wirral.
“I’m hoping it’s dropped. According to the budget proposal, it will raise £150,000 a year. For them to raise that, saying a fine is £100 and they get half the money, they’d have to fine 3,000 residents a year for them to get £150,000. It’ll just alienate the residents with the council.
“We are 100% supporting that it is not contracted out. These companies have sprouted up and they go for the low hanging fruit and they go to get as many fines as they can.
“We will be fighting it. Littering is my pet hate but it needs to be in-house and it needs to be educational. The council won’t make any money out of this. It’s just unbelievable.”
Concerns had previously been raised by Cllr Tony Jones, who represents New Brighton, who said he was “a little bit perplexed” by the proposal. He was told the plan would still have to go to committee.
Cllr Liz Grey, chair of the local authority’s environment committee, previously said: “Officers are suggesting it is worth considering introducing more robust enforcement. The council gets a lot of complaints from areas of the borough where dog fouling is a problem and it is a crime so offenders should be made to pay rather than ordinary taxpayers.
“It’s important that we consider every means possible to clean up the borough and improve quality of life. However, it is essential that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past and officers would need to ensure that the system of robust enforcement did not target people inappropriately as was felt to be the case previously.
“It’s important to consider all options at this stage and not rule anything out before we’ve had a proper debate.”
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