Developments in respect of rubbish in the alleys

For the last few weeks council Enforcement officers have been patrolling certain alleys in targeted areas to see for themselves the problems that residents have identified. They have then issued the first of what will be a series of Section 46 notices. Fining people is so much harder than it used to be and some people are in despair at the state of the back streets behind their houses. Since 2012 things have become much more difficult, people need at least three warnings now before they can be fined. In the meantime people just throw out anything they no longer want, with no regard to their neighbours.

Not everyone realises that the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government decriminalised the offence of "mispresented waste" claiming that “Honest, hard-working people have been punished for innocent mistakes with heavy-handed bin fines for far too long. We are now consigning these bin-fines to the scrap heap of history."

These photos do not show "innocent mistakes" from "honest hard-working people". What they show is what happens when you let people get away with doing as they please, with no regard to anyone else in the street. It is a disgrace that situations like this are now almost impossible to get on top of. Our enforcement officers are working really hard to jump through the ridiculous hoops they need, in order to change behaviours and punish those who won't learn.

I want to thank them for everything they do, even though they have one hand tied behind their back, and look forward to seeing improvements in the state of our back streets eventually.

In the meantime, keep reporting everything you see to Care For Your Area so they know the places to concentrate their efforts in.