District littered with recruitment failures

15 October 2008

Derwentside District Council’s failure to recruit litter enforcement officers has led to an increased amount of rubbish being dumped in the area, according to a local councillor.

Last year, the council secured funding to bring in two officers for a 12-month trial, to see if they would have an impact on littering. They got two candidates in place but both found other full-time jobs, and the money was redirected into educating people against litter-dropping.

Councillor Iain McElhone is now calling for staff from neighbouring districts to be drafted in to help deal with those littering. He believes resources should be shared as Derwentside, together with six nearby authorities, will amalgamate into a unitary authority from next April.

He tabled a motion at an environment scrutiny panel meeting last Thursday for the council to either recruit litter enforcement officers or ask one of the neighbouring authorities to share their officers.

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