Katie Paxton-Doggett sweeps over some of the provisions brought into effect by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill

The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill was fast-tracked through the Parliamentary process ahead of the formal dissolution of Parliament and received royal assent on 7 April 2005. The Act contains a range of measures that are intended to improve the quality of the local environment by providing local agencies with more effective powers and tools to tackle anti-social behaviour, vandalism and crime and disorder.


The Act requires 'responsible authorities' such as local authorities, chief police officers, police authorities, fire and rescue authorities and primary care trusts to take into consideration anti-social behaviour affecting the local environment in formulating their crime and disorder reduction strategies (section 1). This means that offences that damage the local environment, such as litter, graffiti, fly-tipping, fly-posting and nuisance vehicles, will be included.


Local authorities are given a number of new powers to assist them in dealing with anti-social behaviour and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment. Local authorities will be able to make a gating order restricting the public right of way over the minor highway to which it relates (section 2). This will be a useful tool where 'the existence of the highway is facilitating the persistent commission of criminal offences or anti-social behaviour' that adversely affects local residents or businesses. 'Gating' or blocking some, or all, of the access points to the highway using metal gates may reduce these problems.


Local authorities are also given the power to remove abandoned cars from the streets immediately without notice, thus reducing the opportunity for vandalism and arson. Where the owner either cannot be traced or has failed to respond to a notice, such vehicles can be destroyed immediately, so reducing storage costs incurred by the local authority.


Two new offences are created by the Act to help local authorities deal with nuisance parking. Section 3 makes it an offence for a person to park motor vehicles on a road in order to offer them for sale. For the offence to be committed there must be two or more vehicles parked within 500 metres of each other in the course of a business. Section 4 makes it an offence to repair or carry out 'restricted works' to a vehicle on the road as part of a business. However, a person carrying out repairs otherwise than for a business can be convicted if the works give 'reasonable cause for annoyance'. A further exception is where the repairs arose from an accident or breakdown and repairs on the spot or elsewhere on the road were necessary and carried out promptly or with authorisation from the local authority.


Section 18 of the Act extends the scope of section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, making it an offence to drop litter anywhere in the open air, including private land and rivers, ponds and lakes. No offence will be committed where the littering is authorised by law or is done by, or with consent of, the owner, occupier or other body having control of the area. Consent can only be given in relation to a watercourse, lake or pond where the same person owns or controls all the surrounding land.


The powers of local authorities are extended to help deal with litter. Under section 20, litter clearing notices may be served on businesses or individuals requiring them to clear litter from their land. Section 21 amends the scope of sections 93 and 94 of the 1990 Act in relation to street litter control notices. Businesses operating from vehicles, stalls or other moveable structures used for street vending can be required to take steps to minimise and clear up litter on any street or open land adjacent to it. Failure to comply with a street litter control notice is an offence. The Act also confirms that cigarette ends and discarded chewing gum are litter.


Local authorities will be able to restrict the free distribution of printed matter such as flyers, hand-outs and pamphlets that can end up as litter (section 23). Distribution in a designated area without consent is an offence, although material distributed for charitable, religious and political purposes is exempted.


Section 31 of the Act extends sections 48-52 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, enabling local authorities to issue 'defacement removal notices' requiring the removal of fly-posting as well as graffiti. Section 33 strengthens the legislation to make it harder for beneficiaries of fly-posting to evade prosecution. Furthermore, local authorities are now able to recover the costs of removing illegal posters (section 34) from the person identified in the poster as having displayed it or having caused it to be displayed, or from a person whose goods, services or concerns are publicised in the poster or placard.


Part 5 of the Act contains a number of provisions to deal with waste. Provisions for dealing with fly-tipping are amended in chapter 2. Section 40 removes the defence of acting under one's employer's instructions. Penalties for the illegal disposal of waste are increased to a maximum fine of £50,000 and a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. Local authorities can recover their investigation and clear-up costs in removing waste that has been illegally deposited or disposed. In the absence of the occupier, provisions extend the requirement on clear up to the landowner.


Section 46 introduces powers for the Environment Agency or a waste collection authority to stop, search and seize vehicles which it is reasonably believed have been, are being, or are about to be, used in illegal waste disposal.


Section 54 introduces a new requirement for site waste management plans for construction and demolition projects, which must set out the arrangements for managing and disposing of waste created in the course of the project.


Local authorities are no longer required to contract out their waste disposal functions (section 47), thus giving them greater flexibility to deliver waste management services in the most sustainable way.


Part 6 of the Act makes provisions with regard to dogs. Dog by-laws are replaced with a new, simplified system of 'dog control orders' that will enable local authorities and parish councils to deal with fouling by dogs, ban dogs from designated areas, require dogs to be kept on a lead and restrict the number of dogs that can be walked by one person. Section 68 gives local authorities sole responsibility for stray dogs, which previously had been shared between local authorities and the police.


Under part 7, local authorities are given new powers to deal with burglar alarms. An offence will be committed where the person responsible for an intruder alarm, within an alarm notification area, fails to notify the local authority of a nominated keyholder. The powers for dealing with night-time noise nuisance are extended from domestic premises to cover licensed premises, which could find themselves in receipt of fixed-penalty fines if they ignore warnings to reduce excessive noise levels.


The Act makes greater use of fixed penalties as an alternative to prosecution in relation to many of the offences. In most cases, local authorities have the flexibility to set their own rates and to keep the receipts from such penalties. The Environment Agency and parish councils are also given the power to issue fixed penalties in relation to various offences.


The Act is intended to provide a legislative framework for providing and maintaining a clean and safe local environment. Section 108 sets out detailed provision regarding commencement. While some come into force two months after royal assent, the majority of provisions will be brought into force by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England and the National Assembly for Wales, as appropriate.


Katie Paxton-Doggett is a solicitor and producer of the Law Channel, Einstein Network