The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames Council (Kingston Council) has launched a campaign to encourage residents and visitors to help move the London borough ‘from clean to pristine’.
The ‘Cleaner Kingston’ campaign targets five problem areas: littering; cigarette butts; chewing gum; dog fouling; and street urination.
According to the council, £2 million is spent every year cleaning up litter, dog fouling, and other street pollution in the borough. The scheme is therefore being launched in an attempt to free up these costs for other ‘essential services’.
As part of the scheme, the council has produced posters featuring the theme ‘You wouldn’t do this at home’, which aim to make street-users think twice before littering. On-the-spot litter and dog fouling fines are also being enforced, with penalties of £80 and £100 respectively (those who pay within 10 days will receive smaller fines).
According to the council, over 400 of these fines have been issued since they were introduced in June. Residents are being asked to provide feedback on the state of public bins online and request new ones in areas they consider to be lacking.
A pilot for the scheme will run until December 2015 in North Kingston, Kingston town centre and Surbiton, covering streets, parks, open spaces and housing estates. The council will then assess the results before deciding whether to roll the scheme out in other areas of the borough next year.
NSL Ltd, a consultancy that specialises in local government management, has been given a contract to enforce the environmental scheme, which the council plans to fund entirely from fines, rather than the council’s budget. It hopes that this means that neither the council nor residents will have to contribute any extra costs.
Campaign seeks to fight thoughtlessness in litterers
Councillor Terry Paton, Cabinet Member for Resident Services at Kingston Council, said: “The concept of this campaign is a simple one – if we all pull together we will save public money and we will have a cleaner borough.
“I know the majority of people are not malicious when they litter or allow their dogs to foul – but they are sometimes being thoughtless.
“This campaign is simply asking everyone to think before they do something nasty, take pride in our fantastic borough and if everyone can do that then we will all win.
“Our slogan is a simple one: ‘You would not do this at home’, so please do not do it on the streets and in the parks of our Royal Borough.
“I really hope everyone who either lives in, or visits, our borough will get into the spirit of this campaign. If that happens by working together we can all move Kingston upon Thames from ‘clean to pristine’, and save money at the same time.”
Find out more about Cleaner Kingston.
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