Council defends itself on litter prosecutions
Westmeath County Council has defended itself over the lack of prosecutions taken for illegal dumping.
At the council’s October meeting held last week, Cllr Ken Glynn stated that he had been “flabbergasted” to read a recent newspaper headline which stated that there had been no prosecutions taken for illegal dumping in Westmeath, despite more than 1300 different complaints being made.
“We do spend quite substantial money in our municipal districts in going out and tidying up people’s messes that are left and we’ve had plenty of debate here about lake shores and so on, but I do think questions need to be answered as to why there has been zero prosecutions,” Cllr Glynn said, adding that the only way to stamp out illegal dumping is by hitting people in the pockets “and hitting hard”.
Otherwise, he said, there is no deterrent.
Cllr Frankie Keena said he shared Cllr Glynn’s concern at the lack of prosecutions.
“A lot of communities are doing really excellent work trying to clean up their areas,” he said, indicating that he was disappointed they were not getting support from the authority in terms of prosecutions.
Council chief executive Barry Kehoe said there were a number of reasons for the dearth of prosecutions, including the delay in having the legislation amended to allow the use of CCTV evidence in courts. After that, a code of practice had to be put in place as well as the preparation locally of both a business case setting out a need for the devices and a data protection impact assessment.
“But all that work is now done and we have a contractor, and we are now commencing the use of CCTV again to detect illegal dumping at various locations,” Mr Kehoe said.
“All illegal dumping complaints are investigated,” Mr Kehoe said, adding that the council had had one case before Athlone District Court in the last two weeks and has two other cases with its solicitors at present with the intention of taking legal action on those.
“We have more than 10 others there that are at an advanced stage of moving to the legal enforcement and prosecution process,” he stated.
Mr Kehoe went on to say that the council carries out about 6,000 inspections of various sites around the county every year. About 5,000 of those inspections are routine and carried out by the community wardens at locations such as amenity sites and bring banks. The other thousand are made in response to complaints.
Stating that the burden of proof is high in cases where prosecutions are being brought for illegal dumping, Mr Kehoe said it can be difficult to gather the level of evidence required: “People who engage in illegal dumping… tend to be repeat offenders and they know how to avoid detection, unfortunately.”
Cllr John Dolan noted that the council’s management report revealed that four CCTV cameras have been provided and while he welcomed that number, he wondered if more could be provided or if there was a budgetary concern affecting such an ambition.
“I think a bit of catch-up has to be played on this,” Cllr Dolan said. Mr Kehoe responded that the operation of the CCTV cameras is done by an external contractor and not the council itself.
“We use the information that’s gathered to initiate prosecutions and investigate illegal dumping,” he said.
Responding to a request from Cllr David Jones that CCTV be installed at bottle banks, particularly in Milltownpass, and to a comment from Cllr Niall Gaffney that he was keen to see the CCTV cameras rolled out on a rotational basis to rural areas, including bogs, where illegal dumping is a problem, Mr Kehoe said that can be done.
He said that where members have concerns about particular areas, they should let the council’s environment section know and the council can arrange to have the CCTV cameras moved to those areas.
Litter fines
The management report revealed that 36 litter fines had been issued in the county this year. Mr Kehoe stated that all litter fines issued were either paid or waived on appeal. He added that it can be difficult to detect litter offences.