NORTH Ayrshire Council have announced a crackdown on posters put up illegally across the region. 

A high number of posters have already been removed by the council’s recently-established Environmental Enforcement team, with a warning that future postings will be treated as littering and fixed penalties of £80 will be issued to offenders.

They confirmed that a period will be allowed for removal but if this is not carried out, the council will do the work before invoicing the offender.

The team was set up in April, with a remit of making North Ayrshire even tidier and communities more attractive for the people who live there.

Since their inception, they have issued 221 fixed penalty notices to people caught littering, fly-tipping or failing to pick up their dog’s mess. 

Jim Heaney is the council’s first officer to deal with fly-posting and leads the new Environmental Enforcement team.

He said: “These posters are a real problem and we’re taking decisive action now to try and reduce the number of posts that are put up illegally. Not only are they a real eyesore but also obstruct pedestrians at crossings and distract drivers.

“Most of the stuff we collect is promotional material so it’s not difficult to work out who was behind displaying the poster.

“We have already proved that we will take action and will continue to do so until the message is driven home.”

The council has an established Fly-Tipping, Littering and Dog Fouling Prevention Strategy based on the three Es - ‘Educate, Enable and Enforce’. However until now, the focus has been on Educating and Enabling.

Jim added: “We are now firmly at the Enforcement stage of the project. It’s early days but we are getting results. We are trying to keep North Ayrshire a clean and attractive place for the people who live here and those that visit.”