New taskforce to tackle fly-tipping

Clean up team at Westminster Street Park

Cheshire East Council has commissioned new officers to tackle the widespread issue of fly-tipping in Cheshire East.

The officers will form a team that will work to reduce fly-tipping and littering in the borough over the next 12 months.

This is in addition to the engagement work already being carried out by Cheshire East staff, who will focus on their longer-term objective of achieving the three 'e's – to engage, educate and enforce.

The officers will initially focus their efforts on Crewe but they will be responsive to situations as they develop across the borough.

The private contractors started last week and have so far handed out 232 fixed penalty notices.

Councillor Paul Bates, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for communities and health, said: "We've made our position clear on this matter. Enough is enough. The recruitment of these officers is a clear sign of how seriously we take this issue.

"We are an enforcing council but we also have a duty to ensure that we do everything we can to help people get access to the information which will stop them from fly-tipping in the future. Looking at the bigger picture, this really is as much about education as it is enforcement."

Fixed penalty notices will be issued for £80 for dog fouling and littering whilst fly-tippers will be fined £400.

If you see evidence of fly-tipping, contact Cheshire East Council on 0300 123 5021.

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Cheshire East Council
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Steph Sankey
Wednesday 12th October 2016 at 1:04 pm
As far as dog fouling is concerned, will the Council be installing more bins please? I was chatting to some visitors to Styal Mill, walking their dog through the woods, who commented there were no bins between the Mill & Twinnies Bridge car park.
Please also send your task force down the path that joins Lacey Green to Manchester Rd, where dog walkers regularly let their dogs fouling & don't pick up.... It's vile.
Barry Stafford
Wednesday 12th October 2016 at 2:40 pm
SO, how much is this white elephant going to cost the taxpayers?? Every initiative on private contracts etc.have all gone pear-shaped. How can 6/8 guys cover the whole area 24/7? Fly-tippers work out of the council hours 9-5pm. and in the dark nights.Catching a few dog walkers at £80 wont pay the wages of one new operative. Baz
Viv Johnson
Wednesday 12th October 2016 at 4:31 pm
The bushes at the edge of the Carnival field are littered with dog mess bags. People are picking up, but don't like to carry the bags home. A bin on the way out at each exit- Broadwalk, Gorsey and around the end of Davehall would help. There's only one bin at the moment on Altrincham Rd.
But why do people go to the trouble of bagging the mess and then leave it to rot in the foliage?
Chris Boothman
Wednesday 12th October 2016 at 5:21 pm
A task force to TRY and stop fly-tipping and issue fines, wow is that really the best this council can up with. How about supplying Wilmslow with a recycling and waste disposal centre to replace the one they closed 16 years ago. Whilst everyone would I am sure agree the Newgate location wasn't ideal it was all we had. Since then people in south Wilmslow drive to Knutsford using another council facility and passing the cost onto them. Also the matter of fuel cost, pollution and road congestion whilst driving the extra distance. It is a disgrace that this council fails to provide a location within SK9 area, whilst pushing for more and more houses to be built here. There are tips at SK10, SK11 and SK12 but involve more driving and road congestion than necessary. We are paying CEC taxes for a substandard service.
David Scott
Thursday 13th October 2016 at 6:36 am
I agree with Chris completely the problem is down the the corporation themselves. Provide adequate dog waste bins at the appropriate sites and give SK9 a waste disposal centre locally then people would have no need to fly tip.
Terry Roeves
Thursday 13th October 2016 at 8:11 am
New bin locations plus more bins in and around the town centre having been installed doesn't solve the problem of lazy dog walkers. Not all park entrances have bins.
Some faeces does get missed by dog owners, when the dog, off the lead, goes out of site. However, a warm day does see quantities of food litter and disposable bbq's left unbinned.
Neither will 'officers' (such an overused and incorrect term) help us.
WTC can sort this with the money owed to us by CE. Isn't this just the sort of thing that the Big Society was all about? Improving quality of life, civic pride? Perhaps a well built 'bouncer' in dog walker car parks, from say 8:00am to 10:00am with leaflets and 'poo bags' would be helpful. Some of the men in the photograph look suitable.
Then on fine days, have them patrolling picnic spots, with a black bag and water to extinguish the bbq's. (USA have bbq concrete bowls or stands in parks. Far end of the Carrs, i.e. the field towards Quarry Bank Mill is little used).
Like the Country Code, let us leave our parks, just as if we, or our dogs had never been there. It really is not difficult to do.
Rick Andrews
Thursday 13th October 2016 at 9:55 am
Just to clarify Chris Boothman's comment ref the Knutsford recycling centre - it is not another council's. Knutsford is part of Cheshire East so it is a common cost. I agree totally that we should not have to drive so far to the facility.
Simon Worthington
Thursday 13th October 2016 at 1:40 pm
More pandering to the dog community - why should non dog owners fork out for bins for the lazy. Whilst researching was gratified to see there is VAT on pet food.
Sandra Cox
Thursday 13th October 2016 at 2:25 pm
Simon Worthington - why the down on dog owners? Those who pay tax 'fork out' for many services they may not use such as education for other people's children and libraries and lots of non-pet owners create litter and mess. Pets can be of enormous value and help to children, the elderly and the lonely so why rejoice that there is VAT on pet food?
Jon Williams
Friday 14th October 2016 at 11:03 am
Well said Sandra:
Dropping litter Dogs don't do it
Fly Tipping Dogs don't do it
Dropping Cigarettes Dogs don't do it
Pollution of the atmosphere Dogs don't do it
Pete Taylor
Friday 14th October 2016 at 5:21 pm
Picking up and bagging dog poo; sometimes owners do it.
Hanging bags of dog poo on bushes and fences, dogs don't do it, dog owners do.
Pooing anywhere at all, dogs do do(!) it.

Once again I'm astounded by CEC statistics: did 8 "officers" really catch 232 offenders in the act, in their first week? Remarkably good, if that is the case. Keep it up, publish the names and photos of the offenders.

Only £80 fine for dog fouling seems like a bargain; there has been a sign on the lamp-post outside my house for at least 15 years saying a maximum fine of £1000 might be expected.
David Hoyle
Friday 14th October 2016 at 9:25 pm
What powers have they got if they ask for your name and address and you refuse to give it to them and you just walk away from them
DELETED ACCOUNT
Saturday 15th October 2016 at 9:48 am
How many officers in each team? I can see 7 in work outfits and 2 administrators. All in all the "dirty" part of the job has been outsourced, whilst the Council officers "will focus on their longer-term objective of achieving the three 'e's – to engage, educate and enforce", in other words sit at their desks, write articles and actually send out the penalty notices.
Sandra Cox
Saturday 15th October 2016 at 11:02 am
My disabled husband has just returned from having a 'flu injection at Kenmore Medical Centre. Today the car park there is for blue badge holders only. This is being ignored by shoppers who, although it is obvious a surgery is taking place, are parking and walking off into Wilmslow. Like dropping litter, I suppose life today is about what one can get away with.