Judge: "Litter harms a locality and the planet"
12 October 2009
Keep Britain Tidy today backs proposals by a High Court judge to crack down on litter louts and hit offenders with higher fines. Lord Justice Sedley has proposed a £600 fine for litterers calling their crimes 'arguably the gravest of all problems' facing Britain. The plans have been criticised for being disproportionate for the crime. But the reality is that taxpayer forks out £ 780 million a year to clean up the mess left by litterers. Dickie Felton from Keep Britain Tidy said: “We fully support the courts taking a more active and hard hitting role in stamping out litter. “As Lord Justice Sedley points out, litter is a very serious issue.
It can lead to an area being rundown and uncared for which in turn leads to more serious crimes. “ People may argue that the fines suggested by Judge Sedley are too high but in some states in America fines for littering can be as high as $10,000. " The new guidelines endorsed by Judge Sedley state that courts should take a role 'equal to Greenpeace' in saving the environment and fighting against pollution and waste. Lord Justice Sedley says: "Environmental crime, if established, strikes not only at a locality and its population but in some measure too at the planet and its future. Nobody should be allowed to doubt its seriousness."