Campaigning for the countryside  - its landscape, rural communities, agriculture, and wildlife

Litter – Stop the Drop

 

 

Litter from Cars

 

 

In furtherance of the "Stop the Drop", CPRE saw an opportunity with the Localism Bill (currently being considered by the House of Lords) to seek an amendment which would close a current legal loophole that allows people who throw litter from a moving car to get away with it. It’s possible to see litter being thrown from a moving car and it’s possible to make a note of the number plate but it’s almost impossible to provide any proof of which person in the car threw the litter. So, when councils write to the car owner telling them they’re subject to an £80 fine, that person can say it wasn’t them and there’s really nothing more than can be done.  Some Branch members, either in a personal capacity or on behalf of the Branch, wrote to local newspapers to highlight the problem and to ask the readers to write to their MP.

 

 

(4 June 2011)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Campaigners start legal strike against railway litter

 

Bill Bryson, CPRE’s President, visited Cambridge on Monday 14 February at the commencement of a national campaign to promote the use of the Litter Abatement Order which can compel public land managers to keep their land free of litter.  Bill launched his campaign from the Mill Road bridge over the railway.  With a background of Cambridge station, he was interviewed and filmed for interviews which went out on Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC TV Look East and were reported in the press.

 

If no reasonable action is taken within five days of notification, Litter Abatement Orders can be sought from the courts.  To support this action CPRE has published a guide which will enable people who are angry about persistently littered public spaces to take action.

 

Bill said “Railway operators and Network Rail are not the only offenders, but they are responsible for far too much uncollected litter. The first impression for a visitor arriving in a town is often formed by their view from a train carriage, and it is a disgrace that that view is so often a degraded and dirty one that suggests a lack of care or pride in the area.”