MEETING OF CLONDALKIN AREA COMMITTEE
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
MOTION NO. 13
MOTION: Councillor F. Timmons
“That this committee agrees to ask the Chief Executive to provide a report on litter fines for the Clondalkin area – how many issues etc and to ask that local businesses be made aware of their obligations under the Litter Act – to agree how this will be achieved.”
REPORT:
While it is not possible to provide a figure for the number of litter fines issued in the Clondalkin area, a total of 369 fines have issued in the County to date in 2015.
Section 6 of the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended, (the Act) requires the occupier of a public place to keep the premises and adjoining area free of litter.
Where it is apparent that an occupier of a premises is contravening Section 6 of the Act, or that precautionary measures are required to prevent the creation of litter, the Council may serve a Notice on the occupier of the premises requiring the occupier to remove the litter or take precautionary measures, specified in the Notice issued pursuant to Section 9 of the Act, which the Council considers necessary. Failure to comply with the Notice may result in the issuing of a litter fine to the occupier.
Our Litter Warden service is very visible in the Clondalkin area and a good working relationship has been developed with the businesses. There are very regular patrols in the Clondalkin area, with daily visits to the Clondalkin Village, at different times of the day.
Our Wardens are satisfied that all the businesses in Clondalkin are aware of their obligations under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended, and we work with them to afford them an opportunity to deal with any specific problems which may occur, before resorting to enforcement action as working with the business community and adopting a reasonable approach has proven to be successful. However, a zero tolerance approach is taken with repeat offenders.
An enhanced communication and awareness programme is being developed to coincide with the roll out of the new Litter Management Plan, and this programme will include profiling the various roles and responsibilities of all key stakeholders.
