Clean and Green

Litter and the Law

Anti Social Behaviour Act

The purpose of the Anti-social Behaviour Act is to provide the tools for practitioners and agencies to effectively tackle anti-social behaviour.

It contains measures drawn up from across five Government Departments and builds on existing legislation to clarify, streamline and reinforce the powers that are available to practitioners.

Powers in the Act include:

widen the use of Fixed Penalty Notices e.g. noise nuisance, truancy, graffiti and applying them to 16-17 year olds
new action to close down 'crack houses'
powers to disperse groups in designated areas suffering persistent and serious anti-social behaviour
extending powers to deal with aggravated trespass
simplifying powers to deal with unauthorised encampments (provided alternative sites are available)
restricting the use of air weapons and replica guns. Banning air cartridge weapons that are easily converted to firearms
new mechanisms for enforcing parental responsibility for children who behave in an anti-social way in school or in the community
a new offence to sell spray paints to under 16s and stronger powers for local authorities to tackle fly-tipping, graffiti and fly-posting
widening powers to shut down establishments that create noise nuisance
powers for local authorities to tackle graffiti on street furniture
powers to social landlords to take action against anti-social tenants including faster evictions and removing their right to buy their home
courts to consider the impact of anti-social behaviour on the wider community in all housing possession cases
improving the operation of Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)

Read the full Anti-Social Behaviour Act

Dog Fouling

Experts estimate that dogs in the UK produce 1000 tonnes of faeces every day.
Therefore, it is not surprising that dog fouling is a major issue in many areas

Did you know?

95% of the British public are worried by the amount of dog fouling in public places
You can contract Toxocariasis from dog mess, which could lead to blindness
94% of councils employ a Dog Warden
54% of dog owners stated that they had neither bought nor used worming tablets on their pets
The annual cost of cleaning up dog mess in England is £22 million
Around 1400 owners were prosecuted in England between November 2003 and March 2004
It is illegal to allow your dog to foul in public and not clean it up and you can be fined £50 on the spot or prosecuted through the courts.
The penalty for not clearing up dog fouling can be up to £1,000

Relevant Legislation

Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 89(1) and (2)
Litter (Animal Droppings) Order 1991 - Made under section 84 (14) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990
Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996
Statutory Instruments Nos 2762 and 2763
DoE Circular No 18/96 (Welsh Office No 54/96)

Environmental Protection Act 1990

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 imposes a duty on local authorities (and certain other landowners and occupiers) to keep specified land clear of litter and refuse so far as is practicable. The Act also places a duty on local authorities or The Secretary of State to keep public highways (roads inScotland) clean so far as is practicable. This publication provides practical guidance on the discharge of these duties.

The first part of this publication is a Code of Practice issued under section 89(7) of the 1990 Act. Where land is defaced by litter or refuse and action is taken in court under section 91 or 92 of the 1990 Act, this Code is admissible in evidence in the proceedings.

The Code defines standards of cleanliness which are achievable in different types of location and under differing circumstances. It is concerned with how clean land is rather than how often it is swept. The Code does not therefore suggest cleaning frequencies. Rather it sets how quickly differing types of land should be returned to a set cleanliness standard.

The second part provides advice and information on good practice methods and steps which duty bodies might take to strengthen public commitment to cleanliness.

The production of this publication follows a review of the effectiveness of the litter legislation by the Advisory Group on Litter. Some of the Group's recommendations related to the Code. In the main, the standards of cleanliness, zoning and response times in this new Code remain unchanged, although it does introduce two new zones for land periodically used for special events and for beaches other than amenity beaches. The text reflects changes to statutory instruments relating to Litter Control Areas, Street Litter Control Notices, the transfer of duties in respect of Design, Build, Finance and Operate Roads and designated Statutory Undertakers. Both parts have been considerably recast and the second part now includes more information on good practice.

The standards of cleanliness used in Eastleigh have been defined within a code of Practice as part of the Environmental Protection Act 1990:

There are four grades of cleanliness within the code of practice -

Grade A - Free of litter

Grade B - Mostly free of litter apart from small items

Grade C - Quite a lot of litter with small accumulation of litter

Grade D - A lot of litter with significant accumulation of litter

Eastleigh Borough Council has a duty under the Environmental Protection Act to keep our land clear of litter and refuse as far as practicable within specified time scales.

Environmental Protection Act (EPA) Standards

Section 89 Duty to keep land and highways free of litter

This section sets out the legal duty to clear litter and refuse (including dog faeces), from relevant land and highways as placed upon local authorities, educational institutions, designated statutory undertakers, such as Railtrack and other duty bodies. The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse was issued under subsection 7 of this section.

This section does not contain any legal remedy for litter problems. If the duty body fails to keep their relevant land free of litter then sections 91 and 92 can be used for enforcement action.

Who has the duty?

Local Authorities responsibility for public roads
Secretary of State for motorways
Principal Litter Authorities local authorities
Crown Authority land to which the public have access which belongs to the military or other Government Departments
Statutory Undertakers such as Railtrack, British Waterways, British Airport Authority bodies with transport related functions
Governing body of an Educational Institute includes universities and all schools wholly or mainly dependant on public funds
Occupier of relevant land with in a "litter control area"

What is relevant land?

Relevant land must be open to the air on a least one side and under the direct control of a duty body, to which the public are entitled or permitted to have access with or without payment.

EPA 1990 section 86(4)-(15) describes relevant land in further detail. These sections also give the Secretary of State the power to designate other land, which is not described as relevant land, but belongs to the duty bodies, as relevant land, i.e., an area to which the public do not have access but is highly visible to them. Privately maintained land and un-adopted road are not relevant land.

Section 87 The Offence of Leaving Litter

"If any person throws down, drops or otherwise deposits in, into or from any place to which this section applies, and leaves, anything whatsoever in such circumstances as to cause, or to contribute to, or tend to lead to, the defacement by litter of any place to which this section applies, he shall, subject to subsection (2) below, be guilty of an offence."

Subsection (2) No offence is committed under this section where the depositing and leaving of the thing was:

authorised by law
done with the consent of the owner, occupier or other person or authority
having control of the place in or into which that thing was deposited

A person who is guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale which is currently £2,500. The average fine for this offence is £115. It takes approximately £500 to take a case through the court.

The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005

New legislation came into force in June 2005 giving the Council additional powers to tackle anti social behaviour such as graffiti and fly tipping, by doing so we will be able to improve the quality of the local environment.

The Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act gives more robust powers to Councils in providing and maintaining a clean and safe local environment.

While the Act is complicated, it is divided into ten parts and it enables us to tackle problems such as nuisance vehicles, litter and refuse, crime and disorder, dogs and waste.

The Council will over the coming months assess the full implications of this Act, but it is already committed to using the new powers to deal with environmental crime.

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Page Last Updated: 11/16/2007
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Eastleigh Borough Council, Civic Offices, Leigh Road, Eastleigh, SO50 9YN
Telephone: 023 8068 8068, Fax: 023 8064 3952, Text: 07797 877001
Email:direct@eastleigh.gov.uk