South Wales Evening Post - 23 April 2007
Litter louts who drop rubbish in Swansea could be fined £75 by police when a new force takes to the streets in the coming weeks.
Extra enforcement officers, backed by the new council run Streetforce campaign, will be out in the city in the next week to clamp down on the offenders.
Council leader Chris Holley said: "Swansea Council works hard all year to improve the way our streets look, and to reduce the litter people leave behind."
It is a criminal offence to drop litter, and police community support officers have the power to hand out on-the-spot fines.
The authority spends more than £2.5 million a year cleaning up the city's streets of cans, bottles, gum, cigarette ends and fast food litter.
Swansea Council is now making use of new regulations introduced by the Assembly to take extra steps aimed at stopping it happening in the first place.
Enforcement officers are being brought in to challenge people caught dropping rubbish.Councillor Holley insisted the Streetforce campaign would win the backing of businesses, residents and visitors.
"We've just started investing £3.5 million in improving the look of the city centre to make it a more attractive place for shoppers and visitors," he added.
"What nobody wants is for all that hard work to be undermined by people who thoughtlessly drop litter when they could simply put it in the bin."
John Hague, cabinet member for the environment, said people seen dropping litter would initially be given the chance to pick it up.
"But officers will issue a £75 fixed penalty notice if they don't do the right thing. Litter is a blight on our communities and where it happens it tends to attract more litter," he said. The fines regime will be introduced from the end of May.
Mollie Jones, from Blaenymaes, believes the council is doing the right thing.
"When I saw my children dropping litter I'd tell them to pick it up and put it in their pockets until they found a bin," she said.
"It's important to enforce the rules."
