Private sector litter enforcement set to end

Councillors will next week discuss proposals to end a pilot contract with a private sector litter enforcement company.

In September 2018, Kingdom Service Group was contracted to issue fixed penalty fines for littering and dog fouling, mainly in the town centre.

The contract was for an initial six-month period, with the option for a longer term arrangement.

However, a report prepared ahead of Darlington Borough Council’s next Cabinet meeting recommends issuing notice to Kingdom to terminate the contract when the pilot ends on 31 March.

Councillor Nick Wallis, Cabinet member for leisure and local environment, said: “We said at the start of this project that it was a trial basis and we would assess how it was working after six months.

“We have received feedback from people and businesses and on that basis it is being recommended that we do not continue with the pilot.

“However, and I cannot stress this enough, we still take the cleanliness of our town very seriously. We will continue to issue fines, where required, to people who drop litter or fail to clean up after their dog.

“Members of the public can be assured that, even if Cabinet agrees with the recommendation to end the contract with Kingdom, the cleanliness of our town centre remains a high priority for this council.

“We will also be working across the borough to tackle fly tipping, back lane littering and dog fouling more generally.”

Cabinet meets at 5pm on Tuesday 5 February. A full agenda and papers can be found online at www.darlington.gov.uk