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City of Wolverhampton Council has appointed Kingdom Security Ltd to hand out £75 fines to litter critters.
The team of uniformed enforcers spent last week training on their new patch and as of today (Monday 17 August) will commence working full time out and about in the city. They will focus their patrols on high footfall areas like the city centre and district centres of Wednesfield, Bilston and Tettenhall. They will also target known hotspot areas elsewhere in the city.
The team will be on the lookout for people dropping litter or letting their dogs foul without picking it up. Anyone observed committing these antisocial and illegal acts will be issued with an immediate, on the spot fine of £75.
The initiative is part of the council's 'Cleaner Greener Better' campaign which aims to boost pride in Wolverhampton by improving the local environment. Tackling litter and dog fouling is a priority for residents.
The innovative partnership with Kingdom will not cost taxpayers anything. The company will keep a share of the income from the fines and the remainder will be invested back into tackling environmental issues in the city.
Councillor Steve Evans, cabinet member for city environment, today heralded the arrival of the new enforcement team as the start of a new zero tolerance approach to litter and dog fouling in the city.
He said: "Residents, businesses and the council are united in wanting to see action against the minority of antisocial people who litter our streets.
"The message will soon get out there that we mean business by having this full time, highly visible team of enforcement officers out there giving out £75 fines for littering and dog fouling.
"When we announced we were doing this, the reaction we got from the public was very positive indeed. People quite clearly want to see action being taken against the litter critters. Unfortunately, due to Government cuts, we haven't had the resources to carry out much of our own enforcement in recent years, but this innovative partnership with Kingdom will see that situation change at no cost to the taxpayer."
Michael Fisher, Kingdom divisional director, said: "Kingdom Environmental Protection Division is delighted to be working in partnership with City of Wolverhampton Council with the common aim of reducing street litter within the city and make the streets both cleaner and safer for all members of the community.
"Kingdom has been delivering a wide range of environmental investigations and enforcement services on a national basis since 2009 and have consequently contributed to a reduction in street litter and the associated cost of street cleaning as a result of our efforts.
"Our aim is to patrol in an intelligence led manner focusing our controls on identified litter hotspots operating a robust but always proportionate methodology to tackle the problem, utilising a wide range of technical support including body worn cameras."
- released: Monday 17 August, 2015