Fines for littering are to be raised next April, including new powers for councils to penalise owners of vehicles from which litter has been thrown, even if they weren’t discarding it.
Following a consultation earlier this year, on-the-spot fines will increase across the board, with the maximum amount almost doubled from £80 to £150, and the minimum raised from £50 to £65. The default fine of £75 will increase to £100 at the same time.
The new measures are subject to parliamentary approval, and are said to be aimed at tackling a problem which costs £800m for councils to clean up each year. Most respondents during the consultation process were found to be in favour of increased fines.
Environment minister, Thérèse Coffey, said: “Littering blights our communities, spoils our countryside and taxpayers’ money is wasted cleaning it up. Throwing rubbish from a vehicle is just as unacceptable as dropping it in the street and we will tackle this antisocial behaviour by hitting litter louts in the pocket. These new fines will make sure the perpetrators, not the local community, bear the cost of keeping our streets and roads clean.”
