Major plan underway to clean up Stoke-on-Trent and tackle fly-tipping

It's the first priority of the new Labour leader at the City Council

Hanley side street
Author: Adam SmithPublished 25th May 2023
Last updated 25th May 2023

The new leader of Stoke-on-Trent Council says she's initiating a major plan to clean-up the appearance of the entire city.

“We’re going to clean the place up, that’s the first thing we’re going to do." said Jane Ashworth, newly appointed Labour leader.

“People are made miserable by the fact that parts of the city are actually grubby.

“People will immediately start to see a change in the way the fly tipping problem is managed in the city."

New clean-up wardens similar to traffic wardens

“We’re not having our city made filthy by people who are either dumping for commercial reasons or because they’re too idle to sort it out." added Jane.

“We’ll be increasing the number of enforcement officers. They’re the fly tipping equivalent of traffic wardens and they issue on-the-spot fines of up to £400.

“We will be quicker in collecting rubbish that’s been dumped, and we will also do the same in the unadopted alleyways.

Jane Ashworth

“We know in the past the council hasn’t collected from the alleyways because it doesn’t own the land and would be trespassing – but we don’t know anyone who’s been fined or prosecuted for tidying up.

“It’s our intention to sort out those back alleys, and if you live in areas like Smallthorne, Burslem and Longton that will be very good news for you because it’s horrid to have a filthy back alley that the council is unable to clean.”

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