Fly-tipping clampdown expanding to 1,800 addresses from West Croydon to Norbury

A council pilot that has cut fly-tipping and boosted recycling by targeting waste dumped on shopfront pavements will expand throughout London Road this summer.

By August, over 1,800 shop owners and residents in the flats above from West Croydon station to just north of Norbury station face a fine if they leave their rubbish on the pavement for collection between 8am and 6pm on non-collection days. Instead, all rubbish must be kept inside the London Road properties until the waste collection day or the times agreed with the businesses’ private contractors.

The policy was trialled from March with 100 addresses in High Street, Thornton Heath, and as a result the council has so far reduced daily collections by 1.5 tonnes and seen an increase in recycling. The council has also saved over £10,000 in fly-tip disposal costs.

Introduced as part of the council’s Don’t Mess with Croydon – Take Pride clampdown, the new policy came in response to reports that shop owners and residents in the flats above them were leaving waste on the pavement which encouraged fly-tippers and made the businesses less attractive to customers.

Council neighbourhood safety officers have reported a tidier High Street since the now-permanent pilot scheme began, and so far have needed to hand out just four fixed penalty notices for non-compliance.

Now the drive, known as time-banded waste collection, will widen from 1 July to first cover numbers 1-458 London Road in West Croydon and Broad Green. From 1 August it will extend to number 1565 London Road, which includes parts of Thornton Heath and Norbury.

As they did before the Thornton Heath trial, council officers have begun sending advance leaflets and carrying out door-to-door visits in West Croydon to businesses and residents to inform and encourage them to get involved.

“Keeping London Road clear of rubbish is a big job, so that’s why we’re expanding our latest tactic that cuts fly-tipping and makes our streets more welcoming to residents and shoppers.

“Every time the council has to clear up someone’s thoughtless fly-tipping it costs taxpayers’ money, so it’s great that this newest part of our Don’t Mess With Croydon campaign will get even more business owners to take responsibility for their rubbish.”

Councillor Stuart Collins, deputy leader – Clean Green Croydon

The Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride campaign combines enforcement against the worst offences with getting local people to become community champions and lead litter picks.

As well as prosecuting around 100 people in court since launching the initiative in summer 2014, the council has also signed up over 300 community champions, carried out more than 1,320 business licence inspections and encouraged over 240 businesses to sign a pledge to keep their street tidier.

For more information on the time-banded waste collection scheme, contact the council’s environmental enforcement team on 020 8726 6200.

2016-06-13T17:27:37+01:00 June 13th, 2016|Recent news|