The hotspot areas for littering in Reading have been revealed as more than 1,000 fines have been issued by special enforcers.
Places where the most fines have been issued were the town centre and West Reading.
Figures show 469 fines were issued in the town centre and 167 in West Reading, covering the Oxford Road area, Kensington Park and near the Tesco Extra in Portman Road.
The places where the fines were issued have been mapped by Reading Borough Council and Kingdom Local Authority Support (KLAS), which was contracted to issue fines for littering and flytipping last September.
KLAS officers have been on patrols throughout Reading and Caversham, according to a map showing a log of patrol areas.
Where the patrols took place and where fines were issued were mapped by KLAS and the council in response to a question about the work the enforcement officers have done.
The question was asked by councillor Anne Thompson (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst), who asked for the amount and locations of where fines had been issued.
Cllr Thompson commented that flytipping and littering “continues to blight many parts of the town.”
The answers were provided by Karen Rowland, the lead councillor for environmental services and community safety.
So far, KLAS have issued 1,387 Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) fines for waste offences, including littering, fly-tipping and breaches of waste duty of care.
Of those, 866 have been paid by the culprits, resulting in an average payment rate of 62 per cent.
Cases where people have not paid the fines are being assessed by the council’s contract services manager for legal review.
KLAS has been appointed on a 12-month trial basis to boost enforcement against flytipping, littering and other offences.
Fines cost £1,000 for flytipping, £600 for incorrect bin disposal, and £500 for littering.
The littering fine can be reduced to £100 if paid within 10 days of being issued.
Cllr Rowland (Labour, Abbey) said: “At this stage in the trial, whilst there has been an increase in the number of waste investigations and an increase in the number of FPNs issued, the data does not show that there has been a reduction in the total number of fly-tipping reports across the borough or in specific ward areas.
“Whilst the presence of KLAS officers may be most noticeable around the town centre, there are officers investigating in all corners of Reading.
“Most recently in February, the KLAS team have patrolled in all wards and as a result have issued FPNs for offences identified across the borough.”
The figures and the maps for patrols and fine locations were revealed at a meeting of the council’s policy committee on Monday, March 16.
Cllr Rowland is standing in the council elections that will take place on Thursday, May 7.
