Litter complaints top one million across Scotland

Councils in Scotland have received more than 1-million complaints about overflowing bins, dog fouling and graffiti in the past 5 years.

That's according to figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives, using Freedom of Information requests” on the total number of complaints about issues such as overflowing bins, missed bin collections, dog fouling, graffiti, fly tipping and other cleanliness problems.

The party said the figures showed the “damage done by SNP cuts to Scottish councils” and confirmed that “the state of Scotland’s streets is declining”.

The number of complaints hit 221,753 in 2023-24 which is 15,000 more complaints, or 8 per cent, more than in 2019-20.

Biggest cities fare worst

Glasgow registered the most complaints since 2019 , with 432,339. Edinburgh recorded the second most with 359,000.

The situation was reversed so far in 2024/25 with Edinburgh recording more than 47-thousand complaints so far, with just under 43-thousand in Glasgow.

At the other end of the scale Dumfries and Galloway received just 164 over the five-year period.

Moray was another area towards the bottom of the table with 348 complaints recorded.

'Health hazard'

Scottish Conservative shadow cabinet secretary for finance and local government Craig Hoy said: “This is a staggering number of complaints from the public over the state of council-run services.

“The failure to keep our communities clean is not just unsightly but also a serious health hazard.

“This is a direct consequence of the damage done by SNP cuts to Scottish councils over the last 17 years.

“The state of Scotland’s streets is declining as bins lie uncollected and graffiti and other vandalism simply is not cleaned up.

“The SNP’s neglect and cuts mean councils have been left with no option but to axe or slash our most basic services.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

“Councils provide some of the most important services to Scotland’s communities – from waste services to social care – which is why we are providing them with a record settlement of more than £15 billion, with a real terms increase in funding in the coming year.

“We know litter and fly tipping are important issues for local people and communities. That is why we have increased the fixed penalty notice for flytipping and will introduce a new civil penalty for littering from vehicles in due course. We are also banning single use vapes from June next year.”

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