ALTON Town Council’s policy and resources committee has granted permission to allow the district council’s environmental enforcement team to issue fixed-penalty notices for litter and dog fouling on all town council-owned land.

At a meeting on July 29, councillors agreed that fixed-penalty notices can be issued on areas such as Anstey Park, the Public Gardens, Flood Meadows, Kings Pond, The Butts, Jubilee Fields and Windmill Hill.

The decision follows discussions with East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) when it was revealed that the environmental enforcement team would be prepared to visit all town council-owned open spaces as part of a district-wide “zero-tolerance” anti-litter campaign.

In order to operate on privately-owned land, permission of the land owners is a requirement and without it the team cannot issue fixed penalties.

Launched in May, after the first month EHDC reported that more than 150 fines had been issued across the district and that the majority of those had been to people living, but not necessarily offending, in the Alton area.

Issued for the dropping of litter, including cigarette butts and chewing gum, the fixed penalty demands an on-the-spot fine of £75 for anyone aged over 18.

The scheme is being run alongside an anti-dog fouling campaign, which can see £50 on-the-spot fines issued for failing to clean up after a dog and/or not disposing of dog litter in the correct way.

Both are being enforced by uniformed officers from Kingdom Security Ltd, who carry EHDC livery and official ID.

Aimed at improving the appearance and engendering pride in the district by keeping it clean and clear of litter, encouraging people to clear up after their dogs, and raising awareness of the problem, the fixed-penalty notice scheme is empowered by The Environment Protection Act 1990 and the Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act 2005, which gave local authorities the power to issue fines to anyone committing an environmental crime that damages the street scene.

An EHDC spokesman explained that on the question of enforcement, failure to provide details to a litter enforcement officer when challenged and/or failure to pay a fine is considered an offence.

Furthermore, according to the answers to most frequently asked questions relating to the scheme on EHDC’s website, there are no formal grounds for appeal against an such penalty notices, other than through the courts, as it is viewed as an invitation for the offender to effectively “buy off” liability to prosecution.

It continues: “This means that while this is not an admission of guilt, you agree that an offence has been committed and that by paying the sum of money specified no further action will be undertaken by the council. This method of dealing with offences not only saves the time involved for everyone (including the offender) in prosecuting cases at court, but the cost associated with a fixed-penalty notice is likely to be substantially lower than any fine imposed by the courts.”

The maximum penalty that can be imposed by the courts for littering is £2,500.

It is also made clear that lack of signage and bins cannot be used in defence of a littering or dog-fouling crime.

In discussing the issuing of fixed-penalty notices on Alton’s open spaces, councillors heard that there would be no charge to the town council for this service and while the environmental enforcement team operates a six-day a week shift pattern, visits to open spaces would be flexible and by arrangement.

Councillors heard that patrols could start immediately and EHDC’s contracts monitoring office would provide management information, including mapping to illustrate how many notices are being issued and where.

The policy and resources committee welcomed the inclusion of all authority-owned land as part of the fixed-penalty push for both littering and dog fouling.