Welwyn Hatfield Council’s private enforcement contract has led to a number of unfair penalties, including a man fined £500 for ‘fly tipping’ when an envelope blew out of his bin. This is an extract from the letter we sent to the council’s executive member for the environment.
I’m writing to express my extreme concerns about cases related to your employment of District Enforcement. As I’m sure you will be aware, these include a man fined for ‘fly tipping’ when an envelope blew out of his bin, and people fined when their envelopes miraculously ended up on the floor of other communal bin rooms.
District Enforcement clearly does not have ‘appropriate and fair’ processes, or even a basic grasp of relevant environmental guidance. We looked at the relevant guidance in relation to one resident’s penalty, he would be clearly exonerated whether the fine were classed as litter, fly tipping, or waste receptacle guidance. In our view, the District Enforcement ‘process’ ‘amounts to slippery maneuvering in order to justify the fine’. I am very surprised that council environmental officers supported the resulting littering penalty, since this clearly runs contrary to guidance.
This is entirely inevitable if there are ‘payment per fine’ contracts. In every case, these companies are associated with bullying and dishonest behaviour, and illegitimately issued penalties. The reason for this is that they need to issue a certain number of fines to make a profit. And enforcement does not naturally make a profit, so this can only be achieved by foul means.
I would urge you to listen to concerns from your residents, the local MP, and other councillors, and reconsider this contract. It is simply not impossible to have incentivised enforcement on a fair and ethical basis. We would not accept police officers or judges who were paid per fine, since this would distort their judgement and mean they did not serve the public interest. The same applies in the case of litter fines.
I sincerely hope that you can take these concerns on board and review the contract with DE, before more of your residents are issued with substantial unfair penalties. These penalties do nothing for cleaner streets but will do a lot to damage the reputation of your local authority.