Clampdown on rubbish menace

Environmental health bosses are focusing on the Newtown area in the latest stage of a campaign to tackle the problem.

Letters will soon be dropping through residents’ doors warning of a possible �80 fine for offenders.

It could also lead to a repeat of action taken recently in Cobholm to remove wheelie bins left out on the street.

Similar measures are urgently needed in north Yarmouth according to Harley Road resident Ben Morgan.

Mr Morgan contacted the Mercury this week to complain about bins being left in an alleyway between Harley Road and Garfield Road.

He said: “An increasing number of bins have been left out here for the last few months, many of them overflowing with rubbish.

“There were at least 12 standing out this week and one had been tipped over with bags of rubbish scattered about.

“Everyone has sufficient room to put them back in the garden so it is just lazy leaving the bins out, there is no excuse.

“Several are overflowing with refuse, which is causing a health hazard and encourages anti-social behaviour.

“A broken wardrobe has just been dumped here which the children are using as a cycle ramp.”

A bin was recently set alight in the alleyway close to the house where Mr Morgan, 21, lives with his mother Ruth.

The council launched the Don’t Be a Dirty Stop Out campaign last year in a bid to banish bins from the streets outside collection times.

It began with a publicity campaign and since then enforcement action has been stepped up to deal with the issue.

Green bins left out are often contaminated with non-recyclable waste and cause hazards and obstructions of pavements.

The council’s waste and communications officer Lisa Crook said: “We are issuing first stage enforcement notices in Harley and Garfield Road.

“The aim is to focus on one area at a time rather than using a scatter-gun approach. We prefer to educate rather than enforce an �80 fine, which is a lot to pay for many people in Yarmouth.”