MORE than £400,000 in fines were dished out to smokers who dropped cigarette butts in Basildon...almost 80 per cent of flytipping punishments over the last 18 months.

Data revealed Basildon Council’s enforcement team handed out £447,075 in fines for dropped cigarette butts, with a total of £564,900 paid out in fines.

The council has now been accused of going after “low hanging fruit”, instead of dealing with flytipping and litter in parks.

The alarming figures also reveal the council only retained £36,420.50 of the fines issued, due to costs and paying the contractor.

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Flytipping contractors National Enforcement Solutions and the council has previously been accused of “stalking shoppers.”

Craig Rimmer, chairman of the leisure and environment committee, said: “We’re aware of this and are looking to re-prioritise. We’ve heard that sweet wrappers from prams is also a problem.

“Flytipping on estates is a real issue that we need to get to grips with. It’s concerning, and we need to make sure we’re getting bang for our buck.

“Dropping cigarettes is not acceptable either. t’s quite simple, clean up after yourself and your family.”

The Freedom of Information data shows how from February to March last year, 812 fines were issued to those dropping cigarette butts, out of a total of 914.

From April 2020 to March last year, 5,060 fines were dished out - 4,006 of these were for cigarette butts.

And from April 1 2021 to the end of June, 1,143 cigarette butt fines were issued, out of a total of 1,558.

A frustrated 39-year-old resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I have family in Billericay, and I’d seen that similar problems are happening at councils across the UK. It turns out Basildon Councils is doing the same.

“I’m not saying it’s acceptable to drop cigarette butts, but they’re just going after low hanging fruit, when there’s other issues going on.

“When I visit Basildon’s parks, there’s litter left behind by families, that isn’t dealt with.”

Andrew Baggott, leader of the council, said: “The trial with National Enforcement Solutions (NES) to aid our enforcement activity wasn’t about the council making more money, it was about reducing the amount of litter and flytipping in our borough.

“As a result of this partnership, we’ve benefitted from a cleaner borough at no additional cost to the council.

"And the success in the number of fines issued for littering, flytipping and people failing to clean up after their dogs, as well as the number of prosecutions when these have been disputed/left unpaid, acts as a deterrent to those individuals and the wider borough to know that littering isn’t worth the risk. This helps to keep our borough cleaner in the long term.

“We have a zero-tolerance approach to littering of any kind and that’s the approach we will continue to take moving forwards.

“The council will be considering the future of additional enforcement support across the borough at the conclusion of the trial in October 2021.”