Environmental Crime Policy

Joint Enforcement Team (JET) Environmental Crime Policy

Environmental problems such as litter, fly-tipping, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, fly posting and the spread of empty NOS cannisters can seriously blight an area. Spelthorne Borough Council is committed to ensuring that we maintain the local environment to a high standard by keeping the streets and green spaces clean and free of litter, fly-tipping, graffiti, abandoned vehicles, and other environmental nuisances.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990, Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act (CNEA) 2005 and the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 introduced powers to enable councils to deal more effectively with environmental crime, other local environmental issues, and Anti-Social behaviour. It places an emphasis on the role of proper enforcement as an important tool in any council's armoury when dealing with such issues. This means that we will aim to persuade people to change their behaviour through information, education and advice, but will not hesitate to take enforcement action against those who continue to wilfully spoil our environment.

The Joint Enforcement Team will investigate all the above matters along with additional offences including breach of duty of care offences in relation to the disposal of waste, Offences under both the Dog Control and Nitrous Oxide Public Space Protection Orders, sale of and repairing of vehicles on the highway as well as Spelthorne Borough Council byelaw offences which also covers overstaying on Council moorings. In the event of a breach of any of the above offences then the Council will take a proportionate response to the breach and deal with the matter on a sliding scale depending on severity and will be comprised of one of the following.

Words of advice, verbal warning, written warning, simple caution, fixed penalty notice (the current FPN rates are shown within the policy) and finally prosecution for the most serious offences as well as some byelaw offences such as breach of the mooring byelaw.

This policy lays out how we propose to use the range of enforcement options available as shown above to help achieve our aims, which are:

• improved quality of the natural and built environment
• a more pleasant place to live, visit and work.
• greater awareness of Local Environmental Quality issues across the borough and to reduce the fear of crime
• improved understanding by residents and businesses of their responsibilities in relation to the waste that they produce, and the offences that they might commit
• how Spelthorne Borough Council will deal with them if they offend
• the establishment of well-considered and appropriate policies and practices to achieve the above objectives