‘I’m sick to death!’ Councillor calls for camera surveillance and increased fines to fight rubbish blighting Spalding neighbourhood

A councillor is ‘sick to death’ of seeing rubbish blighting town neighbourhoods.

Coun James Le Sage has called for tougher measures - including increased fines and the introduction of cameras - at hotspots in his Spalding St John’s ward.

“The rubbish situation is getting out of hand,” said Coun Le Sage, who says residents are fed up of having their streets blighted by people dumping waste up to six days before bin collections are due.

“I’ve asked for signage in the main areas where it’s constantly happening. I’m getting sick to death of sending photographs to the council to say ‘please sort’.

“To me it’s not difficult to sort. It’s increased fines, better investigation of the dumping and surveillance where areas are constantly being abused.”

South Holland District Council is the only district in the county where bin bags continue to be collected from the roadside, but residents are not meant to put their refuse out until 6pm the evening before collection to avoid sacks being damaged and litter spilling onto the streets.

Coun Le Sage said the problem is taking place ‘all over the shop’ in his ward, but cited Spring Road and Lucknow Crescent as areas of major concern.

“It’s horrendous, It happens every week, people are tipping rubbish at the end of the road at Lucknow Crescent,” he added.

“I’ve asked for letters to be distributed in the area saying ‘do not present your rubbish early, do not put it where it’s not meant to be’.

“We’ve got an area the council used to park market stalls in Spring Gardens and that’s constantly being used as a dumping ground.

“I’ve asked for stricter fines and enforcement and it all seems to fall of deaf ears.”

Due to the polyglotic nature of Lincolnshire’s towns, Coun Le Sage suggested letters and warning signs should be written ‘in several languages’, and he hopes education can be the first step to binning this problem.

He added: “I think it’s a lack of awareness of what the rules are, in terms of when rubbish can go out, and also a general unawareness of the impact it has on other people in the street.

“Why should everyone else have to look at your rubbish?

“The rubbish is collected on Tuesday morning. It’s now Wednesday and there’s already rubbish out in places it shouldn’t be.”

However, if stricter measures need to be taken Coun Le Sage would back those too.

Kingdom LA Security - the team brought in by the council to combat enviro-crime with street patrols and overt cameras - recently placed a camera at Sough Avenue after numerous complaints of fly tipping.

“When I’ve reported it before Kingdom have come out and looked through the bags, and if they find an address they can use that,” Coun Le Sage said.

“But it’s more about tackling the ongoing situation.

“Investigate it where there’s problems, put signage up saying ‘do not dump your rubbish here, the fine is X’ and hopefully that deters it.

“If not then wherever there’s a hotspot, use cameras. There’s plenty of people down Spring Gardens who’d have cameras on their wall looking at the area - the residents at the top end closer to the old hospital are sick to death of it.

“They’ve reported it to me and I’ve sent photographs. What does a councillor in his own ward have to do to make the council get on with what they should be doing?

“I think we need to up the fines as well. Other areas have and I hope it puts people off.”

A South Holland District Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of these concerns raised in this particular area.

“In response, our enforcement officers have increased patrols and are taking appropriate steps to educate or enforce where it is deemed appropriate.

“We would like to remind all residents that it is their responsibility to dispose of waste responsibly.

“Early presentation of waste often causes nuisance by causing obstructions and attracting vermin and may lead to enforcement action being taken.

“Waste and recycling should be presented for collection at the residents property curtilage by 6am on the scheduled collection day, but no earlier than 6pm the evening before."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below…