Council targets litter louts

Plymouth City Council is stepping up the fight to keep the city clean.

From January 2018, additional enforcement officers will be patrolling the streets of Plymouth, with the aim of preventing littering, dog fouling, fly-posting and fly-tipping offences.

This work will be delivered by either an external partner or the Council’s in-house team, and a value-for-money procurement exercise for the contract will be carried out shortly.

The move comes as the council seeks to deliver on the Corporate Plan, which sets out a clear aim to ensure that Plymouth is a green and pleasant city.

Councillor Dave Downie, Cabinet member for Safer and Stronger Communities: "I am proud to live in this beautiful city and so keeping it clean is one of our key priorities.

"Sadly, a small minority of the population do not share this view and so we are keen to make very clear that blighting this city is not acceptable.

"Having extra staff on the street will force offenders to think about their behaviours and how they affect their neighbours which will hopefully lead to a cleaner city for us all to enjoy."

Although there are currently council staff trained in the gathering and reporting of evidence, numbers are small and so proactive presence on the street is limited.

This move will provide extra enforcement officers, ensuring that instead of being a reactive service, teams will be able to proactively tackle issues around the city.

It is expected that enforcement officers will be treading pavements early in the new year.

This decision has been made under executive authority and is subject to call in by scrutiny.