Council tell residents: don’t be a tosser

Elgan Hearn Local Democracy Reporter 

Senior councillors have endorsed an anti-fly tipping and anti-littering campaign which tells people: “don’t be a tosser.”

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Labour Cabinet on Wednesday, January 14, councillors received a report on setting up the awareness campaign and establishing a stakeholder group to support it.

A contribution of £7,500 from the UK Government’s Shared Propensity Fund will be used to set up the campaign and run the group.

The proposal will see the council start off with a “medium” impact campaign which could be ratcheted up to a harder hitting campaign if necessary.

Cabinet member for Neighbourhood and Environmental Services, Cllr Tommy Smith (Sirhowy) explained that the purpose of the campaign alongside enforcement action is to: “reduce incidents, manage demand on services and improve environmental standards.”

Cllr Smith said: “Fly tipping and litter plays a significant recurring burden on the council. The campaign is intended to reduce incidents at source, support enforcement, set clear expectations about behaviour and reduce long term clean-up costs.

“The report identifies three broad types of campaign used elsewhere: hard-hitting campaigns that shock and deter, medium hitting campaigns that challenge behaviour and soft ask campaigns to encourage people to do the right thing.”

He added that enforcement action cannot deal with the problem alone and that changing people behaviour and understanding on what is legal or not is key in tacking the issue.

“A structured campaign offers the best chance of changing behaviour,” said Cllr Smith.

Cllr Smith added that councillors at a meeting of Economic Development and Environmental Management scrutiny committee last month had discussed the proposals.

At that meeting concerns had been raised on how residents will react to some phrases such as “don’t be a tosser”. Councillors had endorsed the paper and recommended that Cabinet choose the medium level campaign.

Council Leader Cllr Steve Thomas (Tredegar) said: “I totally support the recommendation from scrutiny for a medium level campaign, but should we need, if the problem gets worse, we can revert to a harder hitting campaign.

“Residents often ask me if are doing enough to deter people – they acknowledge what we are doing but feel anger over what are very deliberate and illegal actions.”

Cllr Smith agreed and said that “this is the start” and the council can go harder if needed.

Cabinet member for Economy and Place Cllr John C Morgan (Georgetown) added that Blaenau Gwent have a good success rate of prosecuting those who have been caught fly tipping.