Telford council officer training to target fly-tipping

A total of 40 officers from across the council have been given training which will give them new powers to hand out fines for things like graffiti and flytipping.

Russell Griffin, a spokesman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "Forty-plus officers from across the council who have a level of enforcement responsibilities due to their role have been identified to take part in a new enforcement training course which will include helping to address environmental crime.

"Following a procurement exercise, a training organisation has been engaged and some 40 enforcement officers from various council services are to receive training across six core skill areas.

"The training commenced on May 24 and will continue until October 2017 and reflects the priority of enhancing our enforcement activity being given by the council for the minority of people who continue to commit environmental crime."

It comes as the officers completed their first major project, working with residents on ten of Telford's worst streets for flytipping in a bid to tidy up the borough.

Environmental enforcement officers did not need to hand out a single fixed penalty notice during the work, which saw them check-up on the streets, which had the highest reported levels of flytipping.

Streets included Bishopdale, Burford and Blakemore in Brookside; Warrensway, Woodrows, Willowfield and Wantage in Woodside; Boulton Grange in Randlay, Southgate in Sutton Hill and Hurleybrook Way in Leegomery.

The exercise was part of work by Telford & Wrekin Council to clean up the streets by identifying why there was more rubbish and fly-tipping.

In late June and early July, all the streets were visited and the contents of litter and recycling bags and bins were looked at to see how well people were managing their waste and recycling. Any fly-tipping was also noted.

Generic warning leaflets and letters were delivered and conversations were had to educate people on what to do and when to put bins out, and information was given about the council’s bulk recycling service.

Residents in the ten streets were told that the enforcement officers would be coming back to see if there were any improvements.

This was the first such exercise conducted by Telford &Wrekin Council since its cabinet approved the plans to train about members of staff to have new powers to education people on how to recycle and dispose of waste properly, investigate cases of environmental crime and, where necessary, penalise offenders who continue to blight the area.