Published Wednesday 15 December 2021 at 18:08
Five residents in Blackburn with Darwen have been fined and prosecuted after failing to dispose of their waste properly.
Samantha Farquhar, 23, of Derham Street, Blackburn failed to remove dog faeces and waste material within the rear yard of her home address. She was fined £457.00.
Ryan Barker, 33, of Bonsall Street, Blackburn, dropped a black bag full of waste in to the rear alley of Bonsall Street. The defendant was offered a Fixed Penalty Notice but failed to pay. He was also fined £457.00.
Debra Carty, 31, of Alice Street, Darwen, failed to remove waste material within the rear yard of her home address. She was fined £640.00.
Craig Bolland, 38, of Hindle Street, Darwen failed to remove waste material within the curtilage of his home address. He was also fined £640.00.
Helen Hope, 32, of Hindle Street, Darwen also failed to remove waste material within the curtilage of her home address. She was fined £640.00.
The total amount in fines for all five cases amounted to £2834.00.
All residents were fined in their absence, as they did not appear at Preston Magistrates Court on 2 November 2021.
This year, the Environmental Waste Crime team received payment for 39 fixed penalty notices and handled 91 prosecutions so far.
Councillor Jim Smith, Executive Member for Environment at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said:
Waste crimes like these will not be tolerated in our borough. As well as costing a lot of money to clean up, they also damage the environment and create eyesores for the neighbouring residents who have to live with the effects, including smells from the rotting waste and vermin.
Unfortunately a minority of people think they can dump rubbish irresponsibly. However we do recognise that a vast majority of our residents dispose of their waste correctly and take pride in where they live, and we’d like to thank those who are doing the right thing.
We’ve recently launched a new initiative, the Wall of Shame, to help us catch those who are illegally dumping rubbish across Blackburn with Darwen.
Head over to www.blackburn.gov.uk/wall-of-shame to watch CCTV and dash-cam footage of those caught blighting our borough and help us to identify the culprits. If you have your own footage, you can also submit this to the Wall of Shame.
We’d once again like to thank responsible residents and our incredible Keep it Tidy volunteers who work with us to make Blackburn with Darwen safe and clean for everyone.
The council takes all waste issues extremely seriously and does not enter in to court action lightly.
We are committed to educating and informing residents on the correct ways to responsibly dispose of waste, and the Environment and Waste team have employed an Education Officer to lead on this task.
Visit www.recyclebwd.org to find lots of helpful information, including what items go in what bin, tips and tricks If you have waste to dispose of there’s no reason to dump it, you can take it to one of our two Household Waste Recycling Centres, open over a seven day period in Blackburn and Darwen.
Or, if you’re struggling to remove bulky waste yourself, then book a collection via the Council’s waste collection service – with prices starting from just £7.50.
If you have a build-up of rubbish at your property and need some help and advice please contact our Cleansing Team: email cleansing@blackburn.gov.uk or call 01254 585585.