EHJ June 2003, page 182-184 Reports suggest that the majority of people are more concerned with litter, noise, graffiti, fly-posting, fly-tipping and dog fouling than issues such as food hygiene. If fighting environmental crime is the new challenge for environmental health, this month Sue Blakeley looks at some of the Government's options for achieving cleaner and safer public places

In October 2002, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published a consultation paper Living places - powers, rights and responsibilities which dealt with 27 areas of potential legislative reform that seek to improve legislative solutions to environmental degradation in public places.1 Alongside this consultation came a cross-government report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) entitled Living places - cleaner, safer, greener.2 This document put forward a vision for strengthening the role of local authorities as enforcers of environmental legislation that can be used to complement investment in regeneration and the local environment.

Consultation on the paper Living places - powers, rights and responsibilities closed in February, and a number of the relevant consultation issues are discussed here:

Empower local authorities and the police to set the level of existing fixed-penalty notices (and to retain income from those penalties):

The proposal that litter and dog fouling fixed penalty fines be retained to enable improvements to the local environment should be welcomed. However, the benefit of using fines for education and publicity to assist in changing behaviour needs to be recognised as valuable alongside spending on physical local improvements.

Extend authorisation for issuing of fixed penalty notices for littering and dog fouling to any person working "for" or "on behalf of" a litter authority:

The proposal to allow third party contractors working on behalf of local authorities to issue fixed-penalty notices should be welcomed. However, EHOs need to be involved in discussions to determine the level of training that should be required for enforcement officers.

There is also scope to use local authority employees that already have an enforcement role but do not currently deal with littering and may have transferable skills for this work, including traffic wardens, planning enforcement officers, traveller enforcement officers, trading standards officers, building inspectors and neighbourhood wardens. All these people work in local areas, have enforcement training, and are responsible for the quality of public places. It is important that professions operating within local authorities are open to sharing responsibility for improving public places by widening the authority to enforce the law.

Create a new duty on owners of street furniture to keep their relevant property clear of graffiti and fly-posting:

Given past failure to use voluntary agreements to deal with street furniture EHOs should seek legal redress.

Extend "cleansing notice" powers to local authorities outside of London:

Cleansing notices specify the standards and frequency at which relevant land is cleaned and powers to use such notices will be extended throughout England. London's cleansing notices give landowners 42 days to cleanse land, but this is too long and should be reduced to 14 days.

Extend free literature distribution controls to local authorities outside of London:

Too many streets are littered with free literature. EHOs need three ways of dealing with the problem: Create an offence for a person to distribute literature in a designated area; prosecute the person whose business, organisation or product that is being promoted and who is deriving a benefit; and create an offence against the land owner or agent working on behalf of the land owner to allow leaflet distribution on private land or property, which results in littering occurring in public places or council-owned land.

Restrict the sale of spray paints to under 18-year-olds:

There are many issues around the sale of products to under 18-year-olds and there is a need for the Government to rationalise and simplify the rules relating to age restrictions on a wide range of products to provide a more consistent approach.

Extend investigation powers for fly tipping to local authorities:

This has now been introduced into the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill currently passing through parliament. *

Extend "duty of care" to householders:

The advancement of waste by householders presents a particular problem to densely populated urban areas, but recent work has shown that increased public awareness campaigning, combined with enforcement action, can dramatically reduce the problem.

Deregulate dog bylaws:

The proposal to enable local authorities to be free to adopt existing bylaw powers by designating land to be covered by the dog bans/restrictions as set out under the Dogs (Fouling of land) Act 1996, should be welcomed as it would reduce the administrative burden associated with bylaws.

More robust powers for clearing fly-tipped waste from private land:

There is an urgent need to strengthen powers that enable local authorities to clear land of fly-tipped waste. However, any costs need to be recoverable and must be subject to land charging. Where fly tipped land has been cleared, local authorities need additional powers to secure the land to prevent further fly tipping by erection of barriers, bollards or fencing to prevent access to vehicles that are used to deposit the waste. The cost of such work should also be subject to land charging.

Restricting the availability of chewing gum in areas degraded by persistent littering:

Chewing gum is a product that is likely to be used in areas that are some distance from the original place of purchase. Therefore, it does not seem to be an effective solution to ban sales in areas where heavy gum deposition is found.

Dealing with nuisance lighting:

In recent years, many EHOs have responded to an increase in complaints about nuisance external lighting. Currently, local authorities deal with such complaints informally using negotiation and persuasion to resolve complaints at a local level. The introduction of new regulations for repositioning of external lights and the power for local authorities to serve abatement notices would assist in dealing with those offenders that fail to respond to polite requests for co-operation.

Silencing nuisance burglar alarms:

The proposal to enable local authorities and the police to disable the noise box of a burglar alarm from the outside of a property without obtaining an entry warrant from the Magistrates Court would be a useful tool for local authorities. The adoption of these powers would greatly improve the present service that is provided in the disconnection of alarms. Currently, local authorities can experience problems in recovering the costs associated with immobilising alarms. All notices are served either against the owner or occupier and the recovery of monies is dependant upon the individual paying the costs. The ability to place a charge on a property where named individuals are not known would greatly assist recovery of debts.

Make special events licences include street clean-up provision:

Clear requirements for clubs, institutes, sports arenas, football and other sporting stadia to clean up the streets within a prescribed area of the premises after special events, would clean up the areas around these venues and encourage recycling and waste reduction.

Restrictions on the continual use of fireworks and noise-making devices:

Manufacturers have already taken part in some voluntary codes to remove noisy and cheap fireworks from manufacture and sale, but EHOs continue to receive complaints about fireworks and further restrictions should be welcomed.

Extend local authorities' powers for dealing with litter to include other aspects of local environment quality (eg graffiti, fly-posting and minor acts of vandalism):

The expansion of the local authority role in dealing with a wider range of environmental crimes would assist EHOs in tackling local problems more efficiently and would assist the public in reporting problems through one agency. Local authorities are now developing crime and disorder reduction plans as part of their crime and disorder reduction partnership work. This brings agencies together who can support the issue of fixed penalty notices.

Convert local authorities' powers to enforce remedial action by other duty bodies into a new duty:

This will place a statutory duty on local authorities to use powers to serve litter abatement notices and clear land where abatement notices are not complied with. This is currently a voluntary duty. Local authorities would also be empowered to serve these notices on public utilities, including Network Rail and the Highways Agency. The cost of this work would need to be recovered in full to fund the additional enforcement activity demanded. The local authority would also require the powers to recover costs by land charging.

Extend local authorities' intervention powers to include all relevant land:

The local authority currently experiences problems in ensuring the cleanliness of land, in particular railway undertakers and land around railway stations. The power to intervene and clean land together with the ability to recover costs in full would enable a dramatic local improvement to some areas of land.

Widen categories of premises which can be subject to street litter control notices and stronger enforcement procedures:

The proposal to remove restrictions on use of street litter control notices (SLCN) would enable this legislation to be used more freely according to local circumstances. If the legislation could also be applied to mobile street vendors, this would provide a new enforcement tool that could assist in tackling littering from mobile units. If the 21-day appeal period were removed, local authorities would be able to respond to local problems without delay. The provision to issue SLCN on drive-through restaurants to have coverage beyond 100m would improve the local area around such premises.

Strengthened powers for dealing with private land that adversely affects the amenity of a neighbourhood:

Local authorities currently use powers under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to serve notices requiring owners and occupiers of land to take specified action to remedy the condition of land that adversely affects the amenity of a neighbourhood. The proposals to stop a notice being suspended in the event of an appeal would allow the local authority to continue to deal with the problem and would prevent unreasonable delays in improving the local area. It would be useful to local authorities to clarify that the adverse affect on amenity can relate to public space issues.

Clear provision for the compulsory purchase of private land that remains in a condition adversely affecting the amenity of public space:

Where land ownership cannot be established and land is subject to fly-tipping and loss of amenity, local authorities require a discretionary power to register the land in their ownership and maintain it, bringing it back into a local use wherever practicable. While EHOs should welcome the ability to bring back land and property into use, these powers should be discretionary and not mandatory.

Extend the ability of local authorities to enforce restrictive covenants relating to land which it has disposed of or is detrimental to the quality of public space:

The proposal to enable local authorities to issue restrictive covenants to protect public space over time and to retain the good character of that space, together with engaging support and involvement of local people in protecting good quality open space, will help EHOs improve the local environment.

Make litter abatement orders more accessible and easier to use by citizens:

Litter abatement orders (LAOs) empower any person to apply to a Magistrates Court for an order to get an area cleared of litter and refuse (where the landowner has a statutory duty to do so). This will make it easier for local people to take action against the land owner, including the local authority, to clear land of litter and refuse. Very few LAO are issued by the public.

Compile a strategic document with an audit of relevant legislation, codes and guidance for local authorities and other public bodies:

The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs is currently being assisted by EnCams (formerly Keep Britain Tidy) to consult on a regional basis with local authorities to look at the best method of implementing this widely welcomed proposal.

Sue Blakeley is head of district services at Birmingham City Council. The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not necessarily those of her employers.

Next month, an in-depth look at the white paper behind the proposed Anti-Social Behaviour Bill - Respect and responsibility - taking a stand against anti-social behaviour.

References

1. Living places - powers, rights and responsibilities. October 2002, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
2. Living places - cleaner, safer, greener. October 2002, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: London.