COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE
Monday, January 26, 2015
MOTION NO.3
MOTION: Councillor C. O'Connor
That this Committee calls on the Chief Executive Officer to implement an effective action programme to deal with the litter problem throughout the Tallaght area and if he would confirm any plans for the greater use of CCTV to deal with the issue and any plans to increase the penalties for litter crime and in reporting will he also state if he believes that the problem will increase over the Christmas period.
REPORT:
Litter continues to pose significant challenges for the Council across the county.
The Council's Litter Warden Services (5 Wardens) patrol the county and identifies black spots on a regular basis .
All incidents of illegal dumping are interrogated for evidence and appropriate enforcement action taken, where possible. Unfortunately, it is proving more difficult to retrieve evidence in relation to the identity of polluters as personal information is generally removed or shredded.
The Council applies the provisions of the Litter Pollution Act 1997 in dealing with this problem.
During 2014 a total of 2891 complaints of illegal dumping / littering / dog fouling were received through Members Representation Systems, Customer Care System, Environmental Complaints System and Fix Your Street.
A total of 625 fines and 244 notices were issued to offenders and €44,598 has been received in payment of fines.
In addition to the Council’s role in litter management and enforcement, cooperation from all members of the community is required to reduce litter levels in the county.
As advised in December 2014, under Section 10 of the Litter Pollution Act, 1997, each local authority is required to adopt a Litter Management Plan (LMP) and a review of delivery / non delivery of the objectives of the 2011 -2014 LMP is currently underway.
Notwithstanding the statutory obligation to review the current LMP, there are a number of reasons for review of the plan including:
- Need to assess the LMP with respect to the core functions prescribed for such Plans under the Litter Pollution Act, 1997, and to determine how we have discharged these functions;
- To ascertain whether or not the current Litter Management Plan acts as an appropriate framework for the anti-litter activities to be undertaken by the Council over the succeeding three years;
- To identify best practice as regards litter management planning. This will ensure that our future plans benefit from the experience gained from the successes and / failures in delivery of the objectives of the previous LMP.
This review will inform the setting of new objectives for the 2015-2017 Litter Management Plan and on how we approach the issue of litter over the next three years. This approach may include but is not exhaustive:
- developing programmes to target various litter categories, blackspots and illegal means of disposing of waste/refuse;
- potential for wider use of CCTV;
- improved litter disposal systems;
- improved use of green areas / open spaces;
- greater emphasis on sectoral responsibilities
It is not within the remit of the Council to increase the fines / penalties for litter crime as these are covered under Ministerial Order.
It is proposed to examine the feasibility and costs for greater use of CCTV tat blackspots, however actual provision cannot be guaranteed at this point in time.
There were isolated instances of illegal dumping reported over the Christmas period.
Arrangements were agreed with service providers before Christmas to offer their customers in SDCC the facility to place additional dry recyclables out for collection in clear plastic bags in the week directly after Christmas.
The Council continues to encourage all citizens to respect their community and environment, avail of regulated waste disposal means and recycling opportunities, to report instances of illegal dumping , and to where possible assist the Council with identification of known culprits. in order to bring successful convictions.