A NEW crackdown on litter louts by increasing fines from £150 to the maximum £500 has been announced by Buckinghamshire Council.

Fines will also double to £1,000 for people who do not pay the fixed penalty notices within 28 days.

The beefed-up punishment for litterers will take effect from next week after being approved by cabinet on Tuesday morning (July16).

Thomas Broom, the cabinet member climate change and environment, claimed people from outside Buckinghamshire were part of the problem.

He said: “One of the scourges of the county for a very long time has been the very small number of people who feel they can come into the county and can treat the place like their own personal litter bin.”

READ MORE: Buckinghamshire parking charges to be extended amid ‘financial pressures’

The council’s litter fines hike comes after the authority increased the maximum fixed penalty notice for fly-tipping from £400 to £1,000 last year.

In 2023, the government increased the upper limit for fines for littering offences to £500.

In a new campaign, the council will be appealing to motorists and road users to send in safely captured dash-cam and phone footage of people littering, including those who throw rubbish from vehicles.

Cllr Broom told the cabinet meeting: “What we are able to do in this proposal is, instead of matching up the litter to the person littering, we can match the litter to the person who owns the vehicle. They are responsible.”

The council claimed that it costs taxpayers in Buckinghamshire over £3.5 million annually to clean and dispose of littering waste.

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