Liverpool set to establish taskforce to get tough on littering

Liverpool City Council is set to revolutionise its approach to tackling litter and related anti-social behaviour.

A report to the Council’s Cabinet next Tuesday, (16 July) is recommending three major changes to help drive up environmental standards across the city.

The hat-trick of recommendations reflects feedback from the Council’s residents’ survey, which highlighted a call for more action against litter and fly-tipping:

•                    Creation of a new environment and anti-social behaviour taskforce – bringing together existing separate teams delivering enforcement activity.

•                    Appoint a new external enforcement provider to support the new taskforce – this company will provide additional capacity to tackle litter, fly tipping and poorly managed household and business waste.

•                    Increase fixed penalty notices to the maximum level permitted under new legislation – for litter, fly tipping and other environmental offences i.e. graffiti (see note below).

The City Council, which scored a 39% satisfaction level for street cleansing and litter against the national benchmark of 61% in 2023, approved a £2.5million plan in February to recruit more environmental enforcement officers over the next 12 months.

The Council’s aim is to tackle the minority of residents whose poor behaviour, such as littering and fly-tipping, blights communities and places avoidable demand on the Council’s waste management services.

The new external contractor will supplement the enforcement task force to increase its effectiveness in working right across the city.

To embed these new changes, the Council will also review its policies to streamline enforcement and it has already established a Joint Tasking and Co-ordinating Group to oversee the issue. 

This group involves officers from Highways, Street Scene, Planning, Licensing & Regulatory Services, Private Sector Housing and City Watch who now meet on a weekly basis to tackle complex enforcement issues.

As well as developing an anti-litter programme with Keep Britian Tidy and community groups, the Council has also installed the largest network of subterranean superbins in the UK to help reduce bin bag related litter in streets that could not take wheelie bins and has placed larger bins in many of the city’s major parks.

Liverpool City Council, which has invested in CCTV to identify and prosecute fly-tippers, currently deals with more than 1,300 fly-tipping incidents a month, of which more than 85 per cent are cleared within five working days.

Councillor Laura Robertson-Collins, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: 

“This report sets out a comprehensive plan to tackle those who litter and flytip – with a clear message: ‘we’re coming after you’.

“There’s no excuse for this lazy and selfish behaviour. It has such a detrimental impact on our neighbourhoods, everyone’s quality of life and on the public purse.

“We’ve listened to residents and businesses and we’re taking action to create a more streamlined approach to enforcement. 

“This new taskforce will be backed with more officers on the ground, supported by an external company, applying the highest possible fines under current legislation.

“Everyone who loves this city wants to keep Liverpool tidy. But for the minority who choose not to, then their behaviour will not be tolerated.”

WASTE FACTS:

From May 2023 to May 2024, Liverpool City Council received:

•                    4,367 requests for street cleansing – 100% are responded to within next scheduled cleanse.

•                    17,000 enquiries requesting the removal of fly-tipping 

•                    3,000 reports of dumped black refuse bags

•                    1,700 items of furniture

•                    539 shopping trollies 

•                    1,200 fridge freezers

Did You Know?

•                    More than 300,000 bins are emptied every week in Liverpool by LSSL.

•                    Just 0.03 per cent of these are reported as a missed collection.

•                    Domestic waste currently accounts for 2% of the city’s carbon emissions (51,751 tonnes CO2 equivalent).

Note: The Environmental Offences Fixed Penalties Regulations 2023 amended the upper limit for the offences of littering, doing graffiti, fly posting, fly-tipping and breaching the household duty of care.