HYNDBURN is set to become the third area in East Lancashire to bring in an enforcement team to clamp down on littering.

Hyndburn Council leader Cllr Miles Parkinson announced the borough with be teaming up with Kingdom Environment Services to hand out fixed penalties to those guilty of littering and dog fouling.

Kingdom already patrol town centres in Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley after being brought by both council’s last year.

Cllr Parkinson said this is the next step in improving waste management in the borough after the deployment of new bins and a recycling scheme.

Speaking at the full council meeting, he said: “We will be bringing in the enforcement organisation who will issue fixed penalty fines.

“It is going to be the next stage in making sure the borough is kept tidy.

“If the only way people will pay attention to the rules and stop littering is if we hand out a fixed penalty notice then that’s what will happen.

“It will improve the cleanliness of the area and the issue of dog fouling.”

Cllr Parkinson said they will be careful not to be ‘too heavy handed’ at first and there will be a two-week settling in period when the scheme launches later this year.

Blackburn with Darwen and Burnley Councils - both of which use the Kingdom Environment Services - issued a combined total of more than 5,000 fixed penalty notices last year.

In Blackburn with Darwen, 1,085 fixed penalty notices were handed out in the first 31 days of the ‘zero tolerance’ enforcement drive after its launch in October, worth a total of £81,375.

People who do not pay up can be taken to court.

The fixed penalty notices cost £75 each and fines are handed out to people who drop litter such as cigarette butts and chewing gum, and to irresponsible dog owners who fail to pick up after their pet.

The move by Hyndburn Council to bring in Kingdom is the latest action to improve the town centre as work continues on the £2million town square renovation scheme.

At the latest meeting of Hyndburn Council ,Cllr Parkinson also announced plans to bring in a new cleansing regime for town centre’s across the borough.

He said: “It will involving using specialist equipment to clean the area, such as removing chewing gum from the pavement.”

The money for the equipment will be due to savings after the council underspent in the last financial year.

Cllr Parkinson said full details of both schemes deployment will be announced at the council cabinet meeting later this month.