Littering Enforcement Policy

There is a wide range of advice, guidance and enforcement actions available to the council which range from those intended to inform and support those it regulates, to formal legal proceedings with the potential for a financial penalty.

The objective of this action is to assist individuals and businesses to comply without the need to resort to more formal action. The council will utilise advice as appropriate and necessary in relation to compliance and guidance. As and where appropriate at the council’s discretion will seek to take appropriate and not disproportionate enforcement action.

A simple caution may be offered as an alternative to prosecution when:

• it is a less serious offences
• it is a first time offence
• there is a realistic prospect of conviction of a business or individual
• the business or individual has admitted the offence

Where a simple caution is declined, a prosecution will normally be instituted.

Environmental Enforcement Officers should only issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) of £150 preceding prosecution on failure to pay where deemed appropriate as authorised by the Enforcement Manager when all of the following apply:

All FPNs must be issued in a manner proportionate to the situation and in accordance with this policy. A reasonable approach should be taken which may result in giving a warning rather than issuing a FPN. Warnings should be recorded detailing the reasoning behind the decision taken.

Anyone under the age of 17 will not be prosecuted and will be managed through the appropriate cautions and/or formal warnings.

The Littering from Vehicles Outside London (Keepers: Civil Penalties) Regulations 2018 enable councils in England (outside London) to issue a civil penalty notice to the keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown. Civil penalties have been considered but will not be enforced at this time due to limited MTFP funding and resource back-office requirements to process appeals, etc.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) provides guidance on the effective enforcement of litter and refuse, Further information on the issuing of FPNs is available on the following links:

Code of practice on litter and refuse

Code of practice on litter and refuse: enforcement guidance

The codes of practice suggest that enforcing authorities may offer recipients a reduction in the penalty to encourage prompt payment. The period during which a discount for early payment is offered must be no more than 14 days and to avoid confusion, it is recommended that it should not be more than 10 days.

Buckinghamshire Council acknowledges this guidance, however, does not offer early payment or discount options for a FPN, instead opting for the maximum full penalty of £150. This is consistent with our stance against refuse-related environmental crime and supports the recuperation of officer cost to the taxpayer.

All payment arrangements will be issued to the offender electronically via a secure online system.

The council intends to utilize the income from FPN’s to offset the cost of the service against the authority. Officer time costs the taxpayer approximately £45 per hour with an average low-level investigation taking approximately 3 hours to complete. The issuing of a fixed penalty would balance this cost.

In all cases any FPN where there hasn’t been a payment, the matter will be referred to the council’s legal services for consideration of prosecution.

A prosecution for a littering offence will result in a criminal record and may result in a fine of up to £2,500. Buckinghamshire Council will seek full cost recovery, including officer time, legal costs and any clearance costs incurred, and will only prosecute where it is in the public interest to do so.

An FPN is offered in lieu of prosecution, and as such, there is no formal right of appeal. If an alleged offender does not accept their liability for the offence, there is no requirement on them to pay the fixed penalty. The assumption should always be that if a fixed penalty is unpaid, the case should be prosecuted, giving the alleged offender the opportunity to defend their case in court. This is consistent with schedule 11N.14 of the DEFRA Codes of Practice on Litter & Refuse. 5. The interests of council stakeholders.

The council does not want its enforcement activities to have a negative effect on businesses or individuals who comply with the law. The council will undertake its work to ensure, as far as possible, that the circumstances of each case are taken into consideration to make sure that compliant businesses or individuals are not affected.