Littering is down to 'ignorance and arrogance' - councillor says

The dropping of litter and fly tipping is down to "ignorance and arrogance", a councillor has said.

But with a unanimous decision from North Norfolk District Council's cabinet to increase on-the-spot fixed penalty notices (FPN) for littering from £80 to £500 and to raise fly-tipping fines, how will it work?

Callum Ringer, Liberal Democrat councillor, told BBC Radio Norfolk's Chris Goreham that the council's enforcement "relies on our officers witnessing people littering".

He said: "If our officers do catch anyone, our first instance is to say can you pick that up and you know 99% will."

Five fixed penalty notices in relation to litter in the district in the past year, according to the authority.

Ringer said members of the public can report littering and fly-tipping on the council website, adding: "If we get footage of people littering we have the ability to issue the fixed penalty notice.

"If the level of offending warrants more than our fixed penalty notice, the courts can impose a higher court fine, even jail term in theory."

Ringer said he hoped the council's decision demonstrates that the issue is being taken seriously.

He added: "Anybody who is thinking about this needs to really think twice.

"Fines are only one part of this, we need some solid enforcement but also some really good comms.

"You've either got ignorance or arrogance and if we can get rid of the ignorance side then the fines can do their bit with the arrogance and then we'll be in a better situation."

He added as the government is due to increase the maximum penalties again by up to £5,000 for fly-tipping and £750 for littering - a further rise was likely.

Ash Thorpe, a zoology student who works in Cromer, said she is "regularly annoyed" by tourists who leave items like plastic bottles, cups and napkins on benches.

She said: "We've got the bins out, we've got the litter pickers out, but it keeps on happening."

She said she would like to see more cameras to catch people red-handed but thinks the fines "would help a bit" as people would hopefully think "that's an unreasonable amount of money for a bit of rubbish on the floor."

Lisa Whiteman, a volunteer litter picker, is left "frustrated" as she regularly picks up vapes, coffee cups, straws and plastic lolly sticks.

"I cannot understand why people do it, there's so many bins around, why don't you take your litter home with you or put it in a bin? There's absolutely no need to just leave it."

Jill Boyle, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Cromer said: "I think it's raising the profile of littering.

"I can see that people will perhaps sit up a bit more, with a larger fine, people may be a bit more reluctant to just drop litter around the place."

She said it was near impossible to have dedicated enforcement officers patrolling between "60-80 miles of beach".

"Larger fines will hopefully stop those people that are thinking of littering in the first place."

Tim Adams, Liberal Democrat leader, said the increased fines would "not be a money making exercise" but a way to deter people.

"I would favour more restorative approaches in terms of sentencing someone to 100 hours of litter picking so they gain an appreciation of the impact of their behaviour."

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