Environmental vandalism: Fife’s new plan to tackle littering, dumping, dog fouling and graffiti

Fife Council’s environmental vandalism strategy aims to address problems that currently cost Scottish local authorities around £78 million a year, and continue to blight communities across the region.

Members of the environment and protective services sub committee have now agreed the new document which suggests the situation can only be improved through a combination of enforcement and prevention, partnership working and engaging with local communities through education and awareness campaigns.

A Citizen Charter will also be developed to maximise public ‘buy-in’, encourage reporting of incidents and raise awareness of the support available to communities.

Councillor Ross Vettraino OBE, committee convener, described the strategy as one of “zero tolerance” and a statement of how the council will deploy its resources and use powers available to it to combat vandalism across the Kingdom.

“It is a complex multi-faceted problem, which is embedded in today’s society,” he said.

“It is occasioned by irresponsible people, who do not care about the environment and care even less about those with whom they share it and who deface the environment for their own selfish convenience or to maximise financial gain and, in the course of so doing, subject their fellow human beings to living with the effects of their environmental abuse and the expense of removing it.

“Central to the strategy is the swift removal of its effects; wherever it may occur; the implementation of effective policing methods, which will meaningfully utilise the available technology and will penalise the vandals whenever they are identified; maximising the effectiveness of the council’s staffing and vehicle resources; developing more informative data gathering and working with and informing the community of what it can do to assist the council.”

During the strategy’s first year, the council will try to quantify all costs associated with dealing with environmental vandalism including clean up, environmental enforcement and prevention activities.

A review of current resources, how they are managed and what improvements could be made will also be carried out.

However, at the strategy’s core is a determination to change people’s behaviour, and work with community councils, tenants and residents associations, and other community groups to listen and act to prevent and alleviate environmental vandalism in their area.

The Citizen Charter will therefore contain information about responsibilities and specify the council’s actions, while also outlining what is expected of the citizens of Fife.

Councillor Judy Hamilton expressed concerns about one area of the strategy which suggested Fife Council will support and encourage volunteering to help tackle environmental vandalism problems in Fife.

But, after noting that trade unions were unhappy amid fears about resources and their jobs, the strategy will now reflect that the efforts of community groups will merely contribute to the solution and are “not instead of or a replacement for” council jobs.

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