NI council criticised over lack of fines for dog-fouling and littering

Independent councillor Cadogan Enright said a neighbouring local authority issues four times as many in a month as “we do in a year”.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council (NMDDC) now says it will be “prioritising” the concerns on dog fouling and fly-tipping.

A report on the council’s performance (2024-25) was presented to the strategy, policy and resources committee recently showing the local authority enforced 31 fixed penalty notices with initial fines set at £80.

Mr Enright said: ”There are several areas where we’ve done well, but there are also areas where we have done particularly badly.

“In the cleansing area, I know for the last 10 years we’ve been pointing out that our annual number of fixed penalties notices is below what half the councils in Northern Ireland do in a single month.

“If you look at ABC (Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon) for instance they would have in a single month something like four times what we do in a year. “It is a poor performance and we’ve had a number of quite big meetings on what we will do to perform better on that.” Out of the 31 penalties last year at NMDDC, there were 26 paid. A refusal to pay can lead to court proceedings with a top fine of £2,500.

The most recent figures for ABC (2024-25) show the council made a total of 190 fixed penalty notices with the initial fine set at £120.

The former Alliance councillor also added: “Even if we had an explanation as to why we are in a single year getting less than what most councils get in terms of fixed penalties in a month.”

A council officer responded: “This would be a matter for a different department, but I would say that these matters are addressed and prioritised within the 2025-26 business plan with actions and targets.”