Proposals to create a “litter-cam” to fine careless motorists and members of the public who discard rubbish is being discussed by council officers.
The idea was put forward after the state of the roads in the South East of the city were described as ‘appalling’ and ‘falling to pieces’.
On Thursday February 29, a ward council meeting took place, discussing many environmental issues raised by councillors and members of the public.
One issue was the poor state of the roads around Sheffield, left covered in litter from vehicles, as the main roads are only cleaned in the summer months.
Jill Green, a member of the public who attended the meeting via zoom said: “By this time of year, the sides of some of the main roads are absolutely appalling. It’s an absolute disgrace and gives a really bad impression when people are driving out to our area”.
Ms Green said 18-month ago she proposed installing a ‘litter cam’ which would essentially send a fine to people caught littering along main roads to battle the issue, but was told it would be too costly at £15k.
But Councillor Ian Horner said one company said they’d install the cameras free of charge on the condition that they kept 50% of the fines.
Councillor Horner said: “These things take a lot of time, but the officers do say they’re in discussion about it. We all know how sensitive fines are, so the council would have to have a water-tight legal agreement to do this, but I certainly think it’s a good idea. I agree with Jill, if you look at the A57, it’s not a good impression of Sheffield and we need to deal with it. I’m certainly not going to give up on it.”
Another member of the public at the meeting said: “I asked Councillor Otten to come and take a look at the state of the roads in Woodhouse, the ones that are falling to pieces as they are in most other parts of the city.”
When later being asked a question about pollution, Councillor Crossland, Chair of the meeting said: “These things are frustratingly slow. Everybody thinks we have a lot of power. As backbench, more local, councillors it’s hard for us to really make a difference in our area”.
