Leader of the Opposition and Liberal Democrat representative for Shaw, Councillor Howard Sykes MBE, has slammed Oldham Council for “completely failing on the basics.”
A Freedom of Information answer provided to the Liberal Democrats confirms that the council issued only 64 littering fines in 2022, down from 194 in 2020, when covid restrictions were still in place.
The Council also confirmed that fewer fly-tipping fines were meted out – 33 in 2022, down from 50 in 2020.
Councillor Sykes said: “Here we have another stark example of the Labour administration completely failing on the basics.
"The Council has issued fewer fines for littering and fly-tipping than it managed to during the worst year of the pandemic.
“We hear a lot of talk about the success of campaigns like “Don’t Trash Oldham” but the reality is Labour haven’t got a grip on environmental crime.
"These numbers are shocking.
"Liberal Democrats have proposed practical action and found the cash to crack down on people who blight our communities with these enviro crimes."
In response, Oldham Council insist that clearing litter and fly-tipping remains a 'top priority'.
Councillor Hannah Roberts, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “Keeping Oldham tidy is one of the council’s top priorities because we know how strongly residents feel about litter and fly-tipping.
“We’ve invested significantly over recent years to tackle this issue, including more than £2m as part of our Don’t Trash Oldham campaign, and this has been well received by residents, particularly with our ward clean-ups and hot spot intelligence work.
“We are working hard to catch the culprits of these crimes and we investigate all reports.
"However, to issue a fixed penalty notice (FPN), we must have evidence from either the littering or fly-tipping offence before we can enforce, so some reports are harder to enforce against than others because of this.
“We issue FPNs for both a ‘Duty of Care’ and ‘Fly-tipping’ offence when tackling fly-tipping, and in 2022 this amounted to 222 FPNs.
“Anyone who fails to pay their fixed penalty notice is taken to court, to ensure they do not get away with this selfish act, as we are committed to keeping our borough clean.
“We cannot carry out this work alone though, and we are always looking for more support as part of Don’t Trash Oldham, so if you would like to get involved in our campaign visit: www.oldham.gov.uk/DontTrashOldham or take part in our Day of Action on Friday, March 17.”
