Council leader vows to go tough on fly-tipping

Norwich City Council's newly selected leader has promised that stronger action will be taken against fly-tipping.

Green Party councillor Lucy Galvin said she hoped to clean up the city and take a zero-tolerance approach to littering during her tenure.

Her party took control of the authority from Labour, which had been in power for most of the time since it was established in 1974.

"Our focus this year is going to be really getting the basics right and delivering those visible improvements people can feel and see across the city day to day," she said.

"That does mean stronger action not just on littering but fly-tipping too."

The city was named the best place to live in the UK in March and was hailed for being "full of character, creativity and a strong independent spirit".

But like anywhere, it still has issues to tackle; one of them is the market's pigeon problem, with stallholders describing it as a public health risk.

In November, the city council spent £4,000 for a falconer and Harris hawk to patrol the market as part of a trial to deter the birds; however, this was put on hold because people continued to feed the pigeons.

Galvin said: "We don't want to alienate anyone, and we don't want to mistreat the pigeon population.

"We need to make sure we are targeting this really and working alongside experts and nature experts as well to work with the behaviour of the birds to make sure we can actually solve the problems."

While campaigning ahead of the local election, Galvin said the littering was a common issue that came up.

Resident Rebecca Fairclough, 44, who runs the Mile Cross Litterbusters, said: "There aren't enough bins around here, we have fast food takeaway around here, and [wrappers] get discarded as soon as they are finished with.

"It might be a mindset change needed around here that no-one is going to pick their rubbish up for them."

Galvin said the council would build on the previous administration's work to fine and prosecute those who had fly-tipped with a "clear, zero-tolerance" approach.

"We can all do our part, but the council can do more, and we want to do more to give it that really fresh and clean feel we know it can have," she added.

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