Private litter agency binned by council

A PRIVATE litter enforcement agency hired to keep the streets of Omagh district clean has had its contract terminated amid allegations that officers exhibited ‘aggressive behaviour’ towards members of the public and targeted ‘vulnerable people’.

Waste Investigations Support and Enforcement (WISE) started a one-year pilot contract with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in June of this year. However, the council’s environmental services committee has unanimously decided to bring their time to an end.

WISE was initially brought in to supplement existing council services in their effort to eradicate, or at least reduce, what was identified as the district’s most nefarious types of littering: Fly-tipping and dog-fouling.

The arrangement was that, rather than paying WISE directly for their work, the agency would keep 90 per-cent of the funds generated by the fines, and the council would take the remaining ten per-cent. The service generated an income of £5,140 for the council as of October 19.

However, local councillor, Stephen Donnelly, said that, during their short tenure, WISE failed to tackle the two major problems the firm was tasked with confronting – dog-fouling and fly-tipping – and, instead, predominantly handed out fines for ‘minor infractions’ such as cigarette littering.

“They were picking low-hanging fruit,” Cllr Donnelly told the UlsterHerald. “The problem was, and I expressed concerns to this effect during deliberations whether or not to hire them, is that they are a company who are interested in profit. Thus, there is an incentive for them to fine as many people as possible. The upshot of this was that people were being fined left, right and centre for failing to bin their cigarette butts, and I even heard one story where a person received an £80 fine when they accidentally dropped a receipt getting into their car.”

But Cllr Donnelly was equally unimpressed with the manner some local residents alleged had been taken by WISE officers during public encounters.

“I had several people say that they had come away from interactions WISE officers saying they felt like they had been spoken to aggressively, leaving them feeling intimidated and small.”

He added, “We need to deal with littering an dog-fouling but, ultimately, we need to do it with a bit of common sense and proportionality.”

WISE were contacted by the UlsterHerald, but failed to provide a response.