Sheffield Council collect more than £97,000 from littering offences in five months

Sheffield City Council collected 97,220 in litter fines and prosecutions in just five months.
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The authority fined people a total of £67,200 for littering and collected around £30,020 from prosecuting litter bugs in the same time frame.

Fixed penalty notices – fines of £80 – were issued for 840 cases across the city since January this year.

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Of those, 79 people refused to pay so were prosecuted by the council in court. The average prosecution fine for littering is £220 plus costs awarded against the offender of around £160.

Fly-tipping at Chatham Street Car Park, which has since been cleared up.  Fly-tipping at Chatham Street Car Park, which has since been cleared up.
Fly-tipping at Chatham Street Car Park, which has since been cleared up.

Ian Ashmore, head of environmental protection at the council, said: “We understand that it is frustrating for the residents who take pride in their area and it is equally frustrating for us.

“We don’t tolerate this behaviour. If we are able to gather any evidence against those who drop litter and dump waste, we always take action.”

In more serious cases involving fly-tipping a person caught can get a maximum punishment of an unlimited fine or up to five years in prison.

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Mr Ashmore added: “We want to encourage communities to take more responsibility for their litter and have been carrying out lots of education across the city.”

He said one way they achieve this is by providing people with equipment and support to do their own litter picks, which he said ‘makes a huge difference’ and encourages people to take pride in their area.

“Nobody wants to live in an area blighted with litter and it is incredibly disappointing when we know that community groups dedicate their time and effort to keeping areas clean and when litter clearance continues to cost the council millions of pounds every year.”