Litter bugs in Luton face huge fines in town’s war on waste as council reaches penalty notice milestone

Luton Council has reached an important milestone in its aim to tackle rubbish in the town as it poises to declare a war on waste.

Since August 1, 1,500 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) have been issued for a range of littering offences following the launch of a partnership to tackle littering and public safety protection order (PSPO) offences.

Working with council teams, the uniformed waste investigations support & enforcement (WISE) team work across the whole town, and anyone caught dropping litter is issued with an on the spot fine which has recently been increased to £500.

New fines amounts which have now come into force include littering from £150 to £500, graffiti from £75 to £500, fly-tipping from £400 to £1,000, household duty of care offence from £400 to £600.

If people fail to pay they could be prosecuted and face a much higher fine imposed by the court as well as potentially receiving a criminal record.

Councillor Tom Shaw, portfolio holder for environmental enforcement at Luton Council said: “We spend a huge amount of resource removing tonnes of litter and discarded rubbish and that is such a waste of money. Having this additional support to catch and fine the small minority who think it’s okay to dirty our town is clearly paying dividends.

“We think most decent people would agree that hitting these thoughtless people in the pocket is the way to go and we will continue to catch and fine them to make it is really clear we mean businesses. We shouldn’t have to live in a town where some create an unpleasant environment for all of us. That is why we are declaring a War on Waste because we’ve had enough and we know residents have had enough too”.

Clean and tidy places are really important to residents and being the recipient of a FPN is entirely avoidable by putting litter in one of the 1,500 litter bins the council has across the town, taking rubbish home and reusing or recycling items wherever possible.

More details on the council’s War on Waste campaign will be announced soon.