Britain is losing the battle against litter, with more of the country blighted by unsightly rubbish than ever before.

 

Councils spent more than £600 million cleaning up the nation's parks, roads and countryside last year, and issued a record number of fines for littering. Yet the number of areas affected by rubbish increased.

 

A survey of 19,000 areas by Keep Britain Tidy, found 27 per cent of them had an "unacceptable" level of litter - up by more than a tenth since 2006 and more than 42 per cent since 2005.

 

Campaigners say the figures underline the need for a revolution in the way the problem is tackled, involving Government, councils and individuals to change people's behaviour.

 

Worst 10 places for litter fines

Borough Fixed Penalty Notices

Manchester 2,818

Southwark 2,809

Nottingham 2,268

Newcastle Upon Tyne 2,156

Westminster 1,988

Leeds 1,802

Trafford 1,657

Tower Hamlets 1,375

Wakefield 1,052

Haringey 821

 

See whole article here : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../nlitter206.xml

Sdaly a lot of the people who drop litter (particularly smoking-related litter) are also the people who complain about how high their Council Tax is. Living in an area with a lot of tourists, I particularly resent the amount of Council Tax I have to pay to clear up after people too lazy to dispose of their litter properly.