Crackdown begins on littering and dog fouling in Dacorum

Dacorum Borough Council has this week started to crackdown on those who deliberately drop litter and fail to pick up after their dogs through a partnership with District Enforcement.

The council is upping its commitment to making Dacorum a cleaner and safer place to live, work and visit by introducing Enviro-crime officers across Dacorum, who have the delegated powers to issue Fixed Penalty Notices of up to £80 should they witness people littering or failing to clean up after their dog.

Working in partnership with District Enforcement Ltd, a company that specialises in environmental crime, officers have this week begun to patrol the district, including the town centres of Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring but also across the rest of the district including some of the larger and more rural villages and open spaces.

Cllr Julie Banks, the council's portfolio holder for community and regulatory services said: “Littering and dog fouling are some of the most reported issues to councillors and we are taking a more targeted and proactive approach to tackling these anti-social activities.

“Residents tell us time and again how frustrating it is to see litter, cigarette butts and dog poo out in their communities.

"Our environmental services team and caretakers on housing estates work extremely hard to clean up our communities, but a small minority of people continue to drop litter or fail to clean up after their dog.

"As a consequence, Dacorum Borough Council has introduced proactive enforcement to target this unacceptable behaviour.

“We want people to take pride in where they live and we are confident that the professional approach of District Enforcement will help to change the behaviours of a few residents and reduce the amount of litter and dog poo on our streets and in our communities.”

District Enforcement have been given powers by Dacorum Borough Council to issue Fixed Penalty Notices of £80 for littering and for breaches of the borough’s town centre, dog control and alcohol PSPOs. Should the FPN not be paid, the offender could face prosecution and a larger fine.

Enviro-crime officers receive intensive training and ongoing professional development to maintain high standards. They also wear Body Cameras to capture interaction between officers and members of the public.

Dyl Kurpil, managing director at District Enforcement welcomed the partnership and said: “District Enforcement is excited to be working in partnership with Dacorum Borough Council and to play our part in keeping such a beautiful borough clean and tidy, with our sole ambition to reduce the amount of littering and dog fouling on the streets.

“We have a dedicated team of officers who, on a daily basis, patrol the district and take a fair and proportionate approach to the issuance of a fixed penalty notice for any environmental crime offences they witness.”

“All of our officers carry identification, wear body cameras as part of their District Enforcement uniform and will never ask for fines to be paid on the spot.”