ENVIRONMENT chiefs and green organisations in Dorset have welcomed government plans to double on-the-spot litter fines to £150.

Bournemouth Borough Council's Cleansing and Waste spokesman Cllr Michael Filer said he was in favour of greater powers being handed to local authorities.

Environment Secretary Liz Truss, who will shortly launch a public consultation on higher fixed penalty notices, is also set to give councils new powers to issue fixed penalty notices for flytipping. The size of penalty notices for fly-tipping have not yet been decided, but the Keep Britain Tidy campaign is calling for fines of £1,000.

Cllr Filer said: "I am very much in favour of higher on-the-spot fines.

"There has been an increasing amount of flytipping around the town. Most people are absolutely furious when they see it, and apart from giving the place a bad image, there is the extra expense to the council and residents clearing it up.

"All we want is to have a perfectly clean town for all residents and visitors."

Last week a bag of dead pigeons was among the rubbish dumped at the side of the Spur Road. And a Bournemouth car park stairwell was described as ‘filthy’ by visitors, who are fed up with the food debris and rubbish frequently left behind.

Complaints at the state of Richmond Gardens Car Park stairs also extend to Dalkeith Steps, a footpath leading out of the multi-storey into Christchurch Road.

Issues with the car park’s cleanliness have arisen due to the pile-up of rubbish and strong smell of urine in the stairwell. Rubbish and food debris strewn across Dalkeith Steps has also prompted complaints.

Dominic Cook, assistant manager of Cornish Bakehouse, which is adjacent to the car park, said: “The stairs are always grimy. It’s ok in the daytime but in the evening and first thing in the morning there’s not a nice smell. You can smell all sorts, usually wee.”

Users of the multi-storey have commented that the stairwell is filthy. Julie Harris said: “It’s disgusting. Especially for tourists, it’s not exactly eye-catching. If you were her visiting for the first time, it would put you off. I wouldn’t like to be here on my own.”

Welcoming news of the increased fixed-notice penalties, Angela Pooley - from East Dorset Friends of the Earth - said: "I think this has to be backed up with support from local councils. We all, every one of us, needs to think about how much waste we produce. We should always take our litter home.

"If you look at the litter on the beaches, that is caused by ordinary people, people who don't care about leaving rubbish.

I did the recent Dorset beach clean and I was horrified about just what I was picking up - and that was domestic litter."

Meanwhile, Cllr John Rampton, portfolio holder for the environment, Borough of Poole, said: “We welcome the message from central government that littering is an important issue that needs to be addressed. Clearing litter is expensive and the money and resource that goes into this could be used to support other services or to make savings."