Boston's new enforcement team pledge 'zero tolerance' on anti-social behaviour in streets

The officers will be looking to tackle many of the issues that have caused concerns lately, leading to 100 people attending a public meeting, including littering, urinating, and fly-tipping.

And those who commit such offences could find themselves facing an immediate £150 fixed penalty notice.

The service was previously provided by private company 3GS, but it pulled out of the contract at the beginning of the year.

The new enforcement officers took to the streets at the beginning of this month in a bid to tackle people who drop litter, who don’t clean up after their dog, and who fly-tip.

It is part of the council’s bid to respond to issues raised at a public meeting organised by two local women called the Clean Up Boston campaign recently.

Around 100 members of the public grilled police and council chiefs on their concerns about a number of issues affecting Boston’s streets, mostly related to anti-social behaviour.

The Council responded by opening up the toilets 24 hours a day in the town centre to try and reduce people using the streets as a toilet – although within a week of that happening the Central Park toilet had been vandalised.

And it is now pledging to help make the streets of Boston much cleaner with its new enforcement team’s zero tolerance policy.

Boston Council head of service Christian Allen said the officers would be using information passed to the council by members of the public and local councillors.

“It is hoped that because of our zero tolerance approach people will decide to dispose of their rubbish more responsibly and this will help keep Boston much cleaner and improve the overall look of the town and surrounding areas,” said Mr Allen

The team has also been given the powers to deal with issues including graffiti, fly-posting, exposing vehicles for sale on the highway, repairing vehicles on the highway, abandoned vehicles, failure to produce a waste transfer note, failure to produce a waste carrier licence and Duty of Care.

Portfolio holder for environmental services, which includes street cleaning, Cllr Yvonne Stevens, said: “Littering and fly-tipping are two of the most regular complaints we receive from the public. Residents have had enough of those people who don’t care about the effects their behaviour has on their neighbours or the environment.

“The enforcement team will do everything in their power to stop this and help make the streets of Boston much cleaner.”