Fines introduced for stores in a bid to tackle fly-tipping

Bolton Council is to start a scheme to tackle the problem of abandoned trolleys after residents supported the scheme over the course of a one-month consultation.

These abandoned trolleys are to be seen strewn all across the area by anti-social shoppers and they are seen as a "blight" and an "eyesore" throughout the borough.

Under the Clean Neighbourhoods Act the authorities are allowed to ask shops to pay for the seizure of trolleys, and the storage of trolleys, something which was approved by the cabinet member for the environment Richard Silvester last year. The approval of Cllr Silvester was subject to a one-month consultation this year.

The council is to start the scheme after around 85 per cent of respondents said abandoned trolleys are a problem and around 65 per cent of respondents said asking shops to pay for them is at least a part of the solution.

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Garry Parker, the council's assistant director for the environment, said: "Although we know it is a small number of residents who fly tip, abandoned trolleys are a blight and an eyesore, encouraging flytipping and damaging the environment.

"We welcome these powers and we hope it encourages supermarkets to take action in preventing their trolleys being taken."

The charges are a £50 fee for the seizure of an abandoned trolley and a £5 fee for the storage of an abandoned trolley per day. If a shop is not able to collect it within six weeks it is disposed of for a fee of more than £300.

Theoretically a shop could be charged a fee of more than £500 for an uncollected trolley in what one councillor for Bromley Cross, Nadim Muslim, described as a "money-making exercise" at the time of approval last year.

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The shops who sign up to a voluntary scheme are not to be charged if they collect a trolley before 5pm the next working day, while the shops who do not sign up to the voluntary scheme are able to be charged immediately.

For information go to bit.ly/AbandonedTrollies.

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.