Litter controls pick up momentum

23 February 2007

Proposals enabling local authorities to issue Street Litter Control Notices to offices and pubs have gone out to consultation.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has proposed widening the range of premises for which SLCNs can be issued, under Sections 93 and 94 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Under the proposals, the notices would be widened to include all types of eating and drinking venues and office buildings. This would give local authorities the power to require the occupiers or owners of such establishments to clear up litter in the immediate area of their premises, and install disposal facilities or risk a penalty of up to £110.
At present, SLCNs can only be served on a premise which has a frontage on a street, outside which litter is creating ‘a serious impact on the condition of that area, so as to cause defacement or to be detrimental to the amenity of the locality’.
DEFRA predicts a significant increase in smoking litter outside office buildings when enclosed workplaces become smoke-free on 1 July, under the Health Act 2006. Consequently, the total cost of street cleansing for local authorities will rise to an estimated £700 per new littered site per year. ‘If, for example, there was one additional site in each LA, in the absence of the extension of SLCNs, this places an additional total annual cost of around £250,000 on LAs,’ DEFRA writes in the consultation document. However, it estimates that the cost to local authorities of issuing SCLNs, including investigation, appeal, follow-up and administration, is around £450 per notice. The consultation applies to England only, and the closing date for responses is May 2007.

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