Local litter louts and irresponsible dog owners who failed to clean up after their pets were hit with 190 fixed penalties in less than three months.
The figures related to a pilot programme rolled out by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council in partnership with private company District Enforcement Ltd.
It swung into operation on November 11, and continued to target bye-law breakers throughout December and January.
Their remit was to provide additional patrolling, to complement the existing work undertaken by council staff.
The results of the pilot have now been revealed, with 65 fixed penalty notices were issued between November 11 and the end of the month, followed by 68 in December and 57 for January.
The matter was discussed at an Environmental Services committee meeting in March 4.
In response to a question by DUP Councillor Scott Armstrong on where the notices were served, interim head of Environmental Health Paul McCullough confirmed it was “largely within the urban centres”.
“The pilot did commence on November 11, so the officers from District Enforcement are local employees, and they are still just finding their feet,” he added.
Lurgan DUP Alderman Stephen Moutray welcomed the pilot scheme, observing that there had been a “considerable degree of success in their first three months and that will only increase”.
“People need to know in this borough if they’re going to throw down litter, let their dogs foul, they stand the chance of being given fixed-penalty notices,” he remarked, before asking if it was possible that a contact number could be shared with councillors who wished to pass on information to the officers.
Mr McCullough replied: “The initial contact we believe at this stage is best done through the Environmental Health department and through myself and my colleagues.
“But absolutely, we are very happy to take any intelligence or any information that there is in relation to incidents, and where necessary we will pass it on to District Enforcement. I do have to say, their officers have been very responsive whenever we have requested that to be done.”
Lurgan Sinn Fein Cllr Mary O’Dowd commented that offenders are often unidentified and added: “Just something that someone had asked me. They see people dog fouling, but how do you report something like that when you don’t know who they are, or where they live?”
The senior council officer acknowledged the issue, and appealed for any information that might lead to offenders being identified.
“We’re happy to receive any intelligence,” he said. “If we know the typical times and dates and routes that somebody perhaps is walking their dog, or indeed throwing litter, even if we get a description of the dog and things like that, we can try to pinpoint when that’s likely to happen and then deploy officers to try and deal with that.
“Obviously, the more intelligence we have, the better it is. If we do happen to know who people are and where they live and things like that, that’s obviously the highest level of information, but we’re happy to work off anything that anybody has, so if any residents want to come to us, absolutely, I welcome that.”
Committee chair, DUP Alderman Margaret Tinsley felt that some PR, with the relevant contact details, might encourage members of the public to report littering and dog-fouling offences.
Alderman Paul Greenfield agreed with his party colleague, saying: “I’m not sure that most people in the public would even know where to phone or who to get through to. I think it’s probably the big issue.
“In Banbridge at the moment it’s an ongoing problem. Our own staff have mentioned it, but when you talk to folks they don’t really understand what they actually need to do. That comms piece would be a good idea.”
Mr McCullough explained that email correspondence to Environmental Health is closely monitored, and is therefore a good channel to report any offending: “As we were saying, we are happy to take any intelligence and work with that.
“Realistically, sometimes there is a limited amount of information, and limited ability to respond to that. Catching people carrying out an illicit act is just by its very nature difficult to do.
“In terms of the communication piece, the Environmental Health email address is a principal point of contact that’s monitored all the time.
“Obviously we’ve got our ordinary phone lines into the council as well, so in terms of the enforcement side of things we’re happy to receive any intelligence that there is.”
Committee vice chair, Ulster Unionist Craigavon Cllr Kate Evans felt that it was important to make it easy for members of the public to report offending behaviour.
“People don’t like to lift the phone or send an email, and if we’re bringing out the posters as well it might be worthwhile having some sort of a thing on it [directing you to] our council apps, so that you can just click and report it,” she suggested.
“Even if we’re putting QR codes onto the posters that they just scan, it brings up a way of reporting it without having to ring the number or send an email.
“I know a lot of people either can’t get through on the number, or they just become frustrated that it’s a long process, when they just want something as simple as maybe just click and report.”
Mr McCullough was receptive to the idea, stating: “We we’ll certainly take that away, that’s a a very sound idea, and we’ll have some thought and see what else we can do to bolster that.”
