COUNCIL TO EXPAND SUCCESSFUL TRIAL TO TACKLE FLY-TIPPING
A council drive to keep Croydon shopfronts clear of private business rubbish is to be expanded after a trial period led to more recycling and less fly-tipping.
And it could be extended to other parts of the borough later this year.
In March, Croydon council officers imposed a daytime ban on private waste contractors collecting rubbish from outside Thornton Heath high street businesses. The move came in response to reports that business waste left on the pavement encouraged fly-tippers and made the shops less attractive to customers.
Businesses at these 100 addresses now keep their commercial rubbish on their premises until it is collected after 6pm, all dispose of it legally and as a result the council has collected an extra 1.5 tonnes of recycled waste and saved £6,000 in fly-tip disposal costs.
Now the council plans to expand the 9am-6pm waste restriction, trialled as part of the council’s ‘Don’t Mess With Croydon –Take Pride’ campaign, to London Road in West Croydon this summer. More trials are being considered for other parts of the borough later in the year.
As with Thornton Heath, council officers will begin sending leaflets and doing door-to-door visits in advance of the West Croydon trial to both inform businesses and encourage them to get involved.
Enforcement is led by council neighbourhood safety officers, who have only needed to hand out two fixed penalty notices for non-compliance since the Thornton Heath trial began. They have regularly visited shopkeepers, who have reported a tidier high street. (Source: Croydon council press release)
