The Tidy Britain All-Party Parliamentary Group The national litter strategy six months on: priorities for implementation Minutes 5-6pm, 18 October 2017 Committee Room 21, Palace of Westminster Present Jim Fitzpatrick MP (Chair) Rt Hon Richard Benyon MP Apologies Kevin Hollinrake MP (Vice-Chair) Mark Pawsey (Vice-Chair) Victoria Prentis MP (Vice-Chair) Baroness Pinnock(Vice-Chair) Steve Reed MP (Vice-Chair) Sharon Hodgson MP (Vice-Chair) A full attendance list is appended. 17:00 Welcome and introduction Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Chair of the Tidy Britain APPG Jim Fitzpatrick MP welcomed members, external speakers and stakeholders to the Tidy Britain All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting, noting the group exists to discuss issues related to litter and local environmental quality, bring together parliamentarians and stakeholders, and work to raise the issues on the parliamentary agenda. Jim highlighted that the Tidy Britain APPG was registered at its July AGM so the focus of this meeting was to look at the Government s National Litter Strategy with external speakers from Defra, Ealing Council, Watts Legal and Keep Britain Tidy. 17:05 Priorities for the implementation of the National Litter Strategy for England Chris Preston, Deputy Director, Waste and Recycling, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Chris Preston described the Government s priorities for the national litter strategy. Key points included: Page 1 of 5
The Secretary of State s interest and focus on marine pollution and plastics is now informing how the delivery of the national litter strategy is being prioritised. Following the recent consultation on maximum litter fines, the Government will very soon be making a decision on whether or not to increase the maximum litter fine and to decide on whether or not to enable councils to issue fixed penalties to the keeper of a vehicle from which litter is thrown, where the litterer cannot be identified. Defra will work with Keep Britain Tidy and other organisations on the delivery of a national anti-litter campaign. There is a focus throughout the strategy on behaviour change and this is particularly so in the innovation fund which was over-subscribed. Related to the Secretary of State s interest, a component of the funding will go to innovations focused on marine and plastic pollution. 17:15 Implementing the National Litter Strategy: local authority perspective Keith Townsend, Executive Director Environment & Customer Services at London Borough of Ealing and Chair of the London Environment Director s Network Keith Townsend provided a London local authority perspective on the priorities for tackling litter and the national litter strategy. Key highlights included: Ealing Council estimates that it annually spends 3 million clearing litter and the London Environment Director s Network estimates 100 million is spent across London each year clearing litter. The problem in London is compounded by high population turnover with Ealing experiencing 30% population turnover. Keith noted that the focus at Ealing Council is on behaviour change to stop littering. Several opportunities for tackling litter were identified including getting businesses to help with behaviour change, the role of a Deposit Refund Scheme, the importance of the Great British Spring Clean campaign, and the need for quality enforcement. LEDNet would also be formalising its partnership with Keep Britain Tidy going forward. An example of cross-borough working highlighted by Keith is six West London authorities looking to develop a joint anti-litter campaign. Page 2 of 5
17:25 Delivering enforcement for tackling litter: a legal perspective Jennifer Watts, Managing Director of Watts Legal Jennifer provided a legal perspective on tackling litter, including reporting back on the views of the Keep Britain Tidy network of local authorities. Key highlights included: Following discussion with local authority members of the Keep Britain Tidy Network, Jennifer argued that there was a strong case for enabling local authorities to legally hand out fixed penalty notices to householders in relation to fly-tipping. Jennifer noted that the changes in sanctions featured in the national litter strategy were primarily focused on behaviour change rather than revenue raising. A potential issue for delivery of allowing fixed penalties to be issued to the owners of a vehicle from which litter is thrown is how it is implemented across England. 17:30 Making tackling litter a national priority Allison Ogden-Newton, Chief Executive, Keep Britain Tidy Allison outlined Keep Britain Tidy s belief that it was possible to reduce litter by 20% by 2020, highlighting the importance of litter to constituents with over half of MPs surveyed by Keep Britain Tidy being contacted at least once a week about litter. MPs and local authorities ranked a new national anti-litter campaign in the top three most important proposals in the national litter strategy for constituents and residents and Allison therefore welcomed Defra s intention to work with Keep Britain Tidy on its delivery. Allison also noted the importance of developing a deposit refund scheme, the importance of the Great British Spring Clean campaign for community engagement, and the importance of changing behaviour through innovation. Allison also highlighted the importance of a consistent approach to enforcement and the role of partnerships for delivering change to littering. 17:40 Implementing the National Litter Strategy: Discussion Questions in the discussion included from Richard Benyon MP who asked about increasing the maximum fine for litter and whether there could be improvement in work across organisations with Highways England to tackle the specific issue of road littering. The panel discussed on-going pilots including of roadside funnel bins to tackle roadside litter. Allison Page 3 of 5
committed Keep Britain Tidy to work closer with Highways England to tackle roadside litter. Members of the audience also asked about the litter innovation fund and Chris Preston stated that allocated funding from the scheme would be announced in the near future. Keith Townsend agreed to provide information on how allowing fixed penalties to be issued to the owners of a vehicle from which litter is thrown has been implemented with Transport for London across the city. 17:55 Summary and next steps Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Chair Jim Fitzpatrick thanked panel members and stakeholders for their contributions and stated that the date of the next meeting would be shared by email. Keep Britain Tidy provides the secretariat for the Tidy Britain APPG Page 4 of 5
Tidy Britain APPG meeting 18 October Attendee list First Name Second Name Organisation Philippa Anderson Keep Britain Tidy Trustee Tracey Bellamy Croydon Council Richard Benyon MP MP for Newbury Suzy Brain England Keep Britain Tidy Trustee Danielle Charman Keep Britain Tidy Adam Collins City of London James Dunlop London Borough Camden Jim Fitzpatrick MP MP for Poplar and Limehouse (Chair Tidy Britain APPG) Richard Gilbert London Borough of Hackney Rum Gill British Soft Drinks Association Sarah Hayes Clean Up UK Sharon Hodgson MP MP for Washington and Sunderland West (Tidy Britain APPG Vice-Chair) Substituted by a staff member from her office Ian Hoult Durham County Council Billy Kennedy Star Traq James Lees Keep Britain Tidy Dennis Lewis London Borough of Brent Sarah Louise-Kaye London Borough of Redbridge Chris McAvoy London Borough of Croydon Richard McIlwain Keep Britain Tidy Dan Millar Helping Hand Allison Ogden-Newton Keep Britain Tidy Libby Peake Green Alliance Chris Preston Defra Lindsay Richmond Helping Hand Rachel Scarisbrick Keep Britain Tidy Michael Singham Wandsworth Borough Council Lorraine Srivastav Hounslow Highways Keith Townsend London Borough of Ealing (LEDNet) Jennifer Watts Watts Legal Page 5 of 5