Bedford Borough Conservative Councillors have welcomed new statistics which show a significant increase in the number of fines issued for environmental crimes in the local authority area since 2010.
The Council’s ‘Why Would You?’ campaign has used a ‘zero tolerance’ approach towards penalising those responsible for littering, graffiti, dog fouling and fly-tipping. The campaign has also seen a large scale advertising campaign to encourage would-be offenders to change their behaviour as well as targeted patrolling of areas that are susceptible to environmental crime.
Figures made available to members of the Council’s Environment & Sustainable Communities Committee last week showed that since the ‘Why Would You?’ began there has been an increase in the number of fines issued from 58 in 2010/11 to 677 in 2013/14.
Councillor Roger Rigby, Conservative Environment Spokesman, was pleased to see that offenders are being ‘pursued vigorously’. He said:
‘The substantial increase in fines is sending out a strong message that environmental crime will not be tolerated. The vast majority of residents are infuriated by actions such as fly tipping and dog fouling.
‘The Council has taken action to pursue vigorously those who offend. The additional tasking and training of traffic wardens to issue enforcement notices is a further step forward in bringing to life early initiatives taken by the late Mayor Branston and the Conservatives to crack down on environmental crime.’