A RETURN of environmental officers to the streets of Barry, has been called for by a Plaid Cymru councillor who wants to see litter bugs targeted.

New calls for officers to hand out fines to people caught littering or not cleaning up dog mess have been made after the results of a trial period went before the Vale council’s Economy and Environment scrutiny committee earlier this month.

The report states that following a successful trial, the council should consider bringing back on the spot fines for littering, perhaps even being handed out by traffic wardens.

Between June 2012 and May 2013 a trial period was conducted where private firm XFOR deployed officers on the streets of Barry to take on people who drop litter in public.

A report that went before the Vale Council’s Economy and Environment scrutiny committee earlier this month shows that during this period, 1655 fixed penalty notices were issued for litter offences and 10 were issued for dog mess offences.

Of these 1196 and six were paid, respectively, bringing in a total of £89716 and £450 in fines.

The report states: “There was no doubt that the trial, and its related publicity, significantly raised awareness amongst residents and visitors of the consequences of littering in the Vale of Glamorgan.”

Councillor Ian Johnson, who represents the centre of Barry, said: “Reducing litter and rubbish on our streets is a key part of making Barry a better place to live.

“There is nothing more frustrating than seeing crisp packets or cans on the side of the street when you know that people could have taken them home or put them in the bin.”

He added that a flaw in the environmental officers trial was that it was conducted by a private company with a “flawed business model” that saw them needing to fine a certain amount of people per week.

This, Cllr Johnson says resulted in smokers being targeted first and foremost because they are an “easy target”.

“Plaid Cymru would like to see the council develop their own business plan for council-staff as environmental officers, as we do for traffic wardens, rather than for an external company,” he said.

“For me the most important issue is clean streets, and I would love to see more resources put into street cleaners, keeping our streets tidy as people drop their litter.

“But that also means there has to be enforcement, so we need environmental officers.

“Everybody who drops their rubbish on the street knows that they’re doing something wrong, the same as somebody who allows their dog to foul on the pavements.

“Pick it up and put in the bin.”

The report concludes that the council should consider putting enforcement officers on the street again, that it should “invite expressions of interest from private environmental enforcement companies” and also give consideration “to the possibility of extending the duties of Civil Parking Enforcement Officers to include Environmental Enforcement in the future”.