Sutton resident fined £1000 over waste in garden
A Sutton resident has been prosecuted and ordered to pay over £1000 for failing to clear waste at her property.
Donna Blackmore, formerly of Percival Crescent, Sutton, was given multiple warnings about the build-up of waste in her garden, which included over 10 bags of waste and general litter, before she was issued with a Community Protection Notice on 11 March 2021. The notice required her to remove the waste from her garden and around her property.
Despite these warnings, Donna Blackmore did not remove the waste from her garden and continued to breach her Community Protection Notice. This led to the Council issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice requiring her to pay a penalty £100, which was ignored. Therefore, the Council’s Community Safety Team had no choice but to prosecute her.
On 20 October 2022, the case was heard at Derby Magistrates Court where she was convicted under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. She was fined £660 for failing to comply with the notice, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £66, and pay legal costs of £354.84. A total amount of £1080.84 was ordered to be paid within 21 days.
Cllr Helen-Ann Smith, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Crime Reduction said:
“This is another case of a resident disregarding their neighbours and ignoring warnings issued by the Council. We always try to work with residents to resolve the issues, however failure to pay the fixed penalty notice meant we had no choice but to take the case to court.
“We will not tolerate environmental crime of any kind, and this should act as a warning to those that think that they will get away with dumping waste, fly-tipping and littering in our District’’.
Antonio Taylor, Community Safety Manager at Ashfield District Council, added:
“I want to thank the officers involved in this case who ensured a fantastic outcome for the residents impacted by these issues.
“We will always attempt to engage residents and support them to manage their waste responsibly, unfortunately on this occasion due to a lack of engagement and the adverse impact to neighbouring properties, we had to escalate the case and take legal action”.
The Council offers a waste collection service for large items, like fridges and freezers. You can book and pay for Bulky Waste collections this online via our website.