A NEW team of specialist enforcement officers will be cracking down on fly-tipping in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

The council has entered into a contract with a specialist environmental enforcement company, District Enforcement, to patrol the borough’s streets, public parks, town centres, and environmental hotspots.

The service will kick in from October 5 (Monday) for an initial one-year period where officers will issue fixed penalty notices (FPN) to anyone they observe committing, or have evidence of them committing, littering and fly-tipping.

The contract has a possibility of a six-month extension at the end of that period.

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An FPN could be issued for offences such as dropping litter or cigarette waste and enforcement action can be taken for crimes such as fly-tipping and commercial waste offences.

The District Enforcement service is cost-neutral to the council as they don’t charge a fee, instead their income is generated from the payment of FPN.

Councillor David Cannon, lead member for public protection and parking, said: “We all want the community we live in to be clean and tidy but fly-tipping, littering and dog fouling are some of the most reported issues to councillors. This partnership will see the council take a more targeted and proactive approach to tackling these anti-social activities.

“Residents tell us how frustrating it is to see litter, cigarette butts and dog poo in their communities and the negative impact that offences such as fly-tipping have on their local communities. This proactive enforcement will help target the small minority of people who continue to commit environmental offences which will benefit everyone.

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“We want residents to take pride in where they live, and we want all visitors to feel welcome and impressed at how clean and tidy the borough is. We hope that by taking these steps we will help to change people’s attitudes and behaviour and reduce the amount of litter and dog poo on our streets and in our communities.”

Anyone caught littering, dog fouling, or ‘basic’ fly-tipping, such as unlawfully disposing a black bag, will face an FPN of £100.

Repeat offenders of blatant fly-tipping could face prosecution as well as a maximum FPN of £50,000.