Guidance on littering enforcement - EPA 1990 s. 88B
EPA 1990 s.88B: litter authorities must have regard to guidance on littering enforcement. Guidance must be laid before Parliament or Senedd Cymru.
The appropriate person may issue guidance to litter authorities on the exercise of littering enforcement functions by those authorities and authorised officers of those authorities. A litter authority must have regard to that guidance when exercising any of its littering enforcement functions. The appropriate person may revise any guidance issued under this section at any time. Before issuing guidance, or revised guidance, under this section the appropriate person must consult such persons as the appropriate person thinks appropriate. The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament and publish guidance, and any revised guidance, issued by the Secretary of State under this section. The Welsh Ministers must lay before Senedd Cymru and publish guidance, and any revised guidance, issued by the Welsh Ministers under this section. In this section— “ authorised officer ”, in relation to a litter authority, means a person who is an authorised officer in relation to that authority for the purposes of— section 88 (fixed penalty notices for littering, see subsection (10) of that section), section 88A (fixed penalty notices for littering from vehicles in England, see subsection (4) of that section), or Schedule 3A (distribution of free printed matter, see paragraph 8 of that Schedule); “ littering enforcement function ” means— any function of a litter authority, or of an authorised officer of that authority, conferred by or under sections 87 to 88A or Schedule 3A, or any function exercised for purposes connected with any of those sections or that Schedule.
Text in force at .
Source: legislation.gov.uk — The National Archives (legislation.gov.uk), reproduced under licence Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it actually says
This section allows the appropriate person (the Secretary of State for England, or the Welsh Ministers for Wales) to issue guidance on how litter authorities and their authorised officers exercise their littering enforcement functions. Those functions include issuing fixed penalty notices for leaving litter (section 88), for littering from vehicles in England (section 88A), and enforcing the rules on distributing free printed matter (Schedule 3A).
A litter authority must have regard to that guidance when carrying out any of those enforcement functions. The guidance can be revised, and before issuing or revising it the appropriate person must consult whoever they think appropriate. The Secretary of State must lay the guidance before Parliament and publish it; the Welsh Ministers must lay it before Senedd Cymru and publish it.
When it applies
- A council designs a policy on when to issue fixed penalty notices for dropping litter, and checks whether it follows the government's guidance.
- A person receives a fixed penalty for throwing a cigarette butt, and argues that the council's enforcement officer did not follow the official guidance on issuing such notices.
- The Secretary of State publishes a revised version of the littering enforcement guidance, and all English litter authorities must review their practices to have regard to it.
- A litter authority's authorised officer decides whether to issue a fixed penalty for littering from a vehicle, and needs to know if the current guidance requires a warning first.
What this section does not say
- This section does not set the amount of a fixed penalty for littering (that is in section 88).
- It does not create the offence of leaving litter (that is in section 87).
- It does not give a person a right to appeal a fixed penalty notice (appeal procedures are elsewhere).
- It does not require a litter authority to enforce; it only requires them to have regard to guidance if they do enforce.
That's the law. Now let's settle your problem.
Say what is happening. A neutral mediator hears your side and the other party's, and walks you both to a written agreement. In the advanced settings you can ask for the decision to be reasoned on the Acts of Parliament that apply in England and Wales.
Or open a session directly and invite the other party.
We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.
This page reproduces the text of EPA 1990 s. 88B in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in England and Wales.