Getting tough on enviro-crime

A multi-agency operation saw partners work together to clean up the borough and address residents’ concerns about fly-tipping and littering.

The operation, on Wednesday 21 March, saw the council’s licensing team, neighbourhood safety officers (NSOs), and parking and trading standards teams working with the police to clamp down on these crimes and clean up the area.

The officers focused on Croydon town centre, Fairfield, Broad Green, Selhurst, South Norwood, Thornton Heath and West Thornton wards.

The work included:

  • investigating 32 fly-tips, and reported them to Croydon’s waste contractor, Veolia, for clearing;
  • issuing 15 fixed-penalty notices for littering, fly-tipping and dumping rubbish;
  • carrying out 12 duty-of-care visits to business premises to ensure they were disposing of all commercial waste legally and with the correct contract in place;
  • issuing five community protection notice warnings for messy front gardens and waste dumped on private land (the warnings require the areas be cleared and private land secured);
  • confiscating alcohol from 16 street drinkers in the town centre (the streets are included in the Public Space Protection Order – in place to help tackle street drinking and antisocial behaviour);
  • inspecting 26 estates to check against antisocial behaviour and enviro-crime;
  • issuing 141 penalty-charge notice parking tickets in the town centre, Broad Green, Selhurst, West Thornton and Thornton Heath; and
  • checking that restaurants/food premises were displaying accurate food ratings, and whether food licences were correctly displayed.

Officers also engaged with the public, signposting them to the correct team to deal with the concerns, such as pot holes, broken drain covers, illegal fly-posting and overflowing public bins.

Councillor Hamida Ali, cabinet member for communities, safety and justice

“These areas were targeted as the community had raised concerns about environmental crime. By linking services, we aimed to make a greater impact than if they had acted alone.

“This is another example of how we are acting on behalf of residents who do the right thing.”

Councillor Stuart Collins, deputy leader and cabinet member for Clean and Green Croydon, said: “This shows how the public is backing the Don’t Mess With Croydon – Take Pride campaign.

“We now have 345 community champions who have joined our crackdown on flytipping and rubbish by encouraging recycling, managing their waste responsibly and helping to reduce instances of environmental crime.

“We have also now brought 195 prosecutions, and will continue to fine those who do not respect our environment.”

This is the second multi-agency operation to take place in the borough, the previous one taking place last November. A third will be held in coming months at a date to be confirmed.

 

 

2021-08-20T15:42:54+01:00 March 26th, 2018|Recent news|