Enforcing the Rules

There can be few people in the Parish who do not get incensed by the casual dropping of litter or the carelessness of dog owners who let their animals foul the pavements. If you are having to scrape dog poo from your shoe or pull fish and chip paper out of your hedge bottom, then liberal principles can vanish and 'flogging is too good for them' can become the cry.

There are of course penalties for both these activities and fixed penalty notices can be and are issued by CW&C against offenders who perpetrate this kind of 'low – level' nuisance. But they can only be issued on people over the age of 17 and CW&C has started a consultation to see if there would be support for lowering this age to 16, or even as low as 10. CW&C stress that this would be part of other measures to educate and inform and would only be used where there was a persistent problem.
CW&C is also suggesting that, again where problems were disproportional and persistent, that un-uniformed enforcement operations be carried out.

The Parish Council discussed this issue and decided not to support these proposals and to write to CW&C to indicate that more regular and more consistent use of the Council's existing enforcement procedures was the best way to respond to the situation. They were particularly wary of the use of non-uniformed staff having such powers, especially as the public is constantly advised to be careful of anyone who claims to act in an official capacity.

The consultation process is available on the CWAC website, and individuals are encouraged to access this and make their views known. The online consultation form closes on Sunday 30th. March but written submissions can be up to April 4th.
Apologies about the very short notice.