By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There are concerns Gloucester is suffering a surge in flytipping and littering since October after a contract for enforcement ended meaning no fines have been issued since.
The City Council decided in August last year to terminate its arrangement with 3GS, the contractor responsible for littering enforcement across Gloucester.
After serving a one-month notice period, 3GS ceased operations on October 3, 2024.
The council has since been in the process of bringing the service in-house and acquiring the required hardware, software and case management systems needed.
But this means no fines have been issued during that period. Before the contract was terminated, 3GS were issuing hundreds of fines each month.
Councillor Sajid Patel (C, Barton and Tredworth) asked at Wednesday’s (January 15) cabinet meeting why the contract was terminated and when would the council employ its own enforcement officers.
“It’s been nearly four months now since that contract ended,” he said.
“It’s surprising to see it ended just when 3GS were performing very successfully having caught almost £71,000 worth of fines that were issued.
“In July it was the highest last year, 391 fines for flytipping.”
Cllr Patel said maybe the reason the city is seeing an increase in litter is due to the contract’s termination.
Environment cabinet member Sebastian Field (LD, Podsemad) said the contract was cost neutral to the council.
The authority did not get any income from it but the firm took income from any fines issued.
He said that was used to run the service but the council is now looking to bring the service in house.
“This will enhance the service in a number of ways, particularly having staff in Gloucester City Council uniform so they can engage with the community,” Cllr Field said.
“They can do things like go into schools and do education programmes. You couldn’t do that with 3GS.”
He said it would cost the council more to employ two enforcement officers but he said it would be more efficient once up and running with sophisticated IT.
“There were difficulties in recruiting for these two officer positions but we are confident that it will be up and running soon and it will be an enhanced service for Gloucester.”
Correction: A correction was made to this article on 17/01/25.