Be Careful the Environment You Choose For It Will Shape You.

Does it matter where waste/refuse is dumped? That’s a rhetorical question we are asking ourselves. Of course it does. It matters if it is in Lydd, New Romney, St Marys Bay, Dymchurch, Hythe or Folkestone. Waste/Refuse has its rightfully place, that being in a wheelie bin or other receptacle.

Of late there has been a lot of whoha about waste on the streets of Shepway. A Cllr has denigrated the Town Sprucer for his fine efforts and Veolia and their £3.2 million pound contract appears not to be working properly across the District.

In Sept 2015 Dover Road hit the local headlines for all the wrong reasons

  not a pleasant site to behold, no matter where it is. Recently a member of public walking their dog, took the photo below – very close to The Grand in the West End of Folkestone. Regardless of where one lives, it appears as though some people have no regard for their, or other residents of the district’s environment when they leave refuse on our streets.

Rubbish On Metropole Road East

So What do SDC say about about Street Cleaning and Litter. Well they say the following:

We will:

• sweep town centres and main shopping areas every day

• empty litter bins as necessary

• sweep residential areas according to how busy they are, on a scale from once a fortnight to three times a week.

What does the law say about it:

Controlling street litter Section 93 (1)
A principal litter authority… may, with a view to the prevention of accumulations of litter or refuse [as above photo’s] in and around any street or open land adjacent to any street, issue notices (“Street Litter Control Notices”) imposing requirements on occupiers of premises in relation to such litter or refuse…

But first they must know who put the waste/refuse there.

 Section 22 (3) Control of Pollution Act 1974; which Provides a power to district councils to arrange, with the agreement of the person owning or occupying the land, for the cleaning of land in the open air (other than a highway) to which the public has access. Charges will be paid by the owner or occupier.

Section 78 Public Health Act 1936
Provides powers for district councils to sweep and cleanse any court, yard or passage which is used in common by the occupants of two or more buildings (but is not a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large) and which is not regularly swept and kept clean to the satisfaction of the authority. The council may recover reasonable expenses from the occupiers of the buildings.

Section 6 Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978
Gives district councils the powers to remove from land open to the air or on a highway any thing that has been abandoned without lawful authority. If the land is occupied, the council must give notice of their intention to remove. Costs can be recovered from the person leaving the refuse or a person knowingly permitting it.

Section 4 Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949
A local authority can serve a notice requiring an owner to remove, at his own expense, accumulated waste where damage by pests is likely to occur. Costs can be recovered should the council have to remove it.

Part III (Statutory Nuisance) Environmental Protection Act 1990
District councils can serve an Abatement Notice if an accumulation or deposit is considered to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance. Reasonable costs can be recovered. Inert material, however, would not be categorised as a statutory nuisance.

So the question is, have SDC used any of the above legislation to clamp down on people who put refuse on the pavements around Shepway? Perhaps an FOI!. Environmental Health are the people to contact at SDC, in particular

arthur.atkins@shepway.gov.uk   principal environmental health officer.

environmental.services@shepway.gov.uk

or follow this Link   → Report a Problem

or contact Arthur’s boss.

susan.priest@shepway.gov.uk

Veolia

Estelle.Brachlianoff@veolia.com  Chief Exec UK

antoine.frerot@veolia.com Chief Exec of whole company

Shepwayvox