It was a busy evening at last night’s City Environment, South Downs & The Sea Committee.
More recycling points for cartons and electricals
Councillors discussed plans to expand recycling points across the city.
It was agreed that we’ll roll out 54 additional recycling bins for food and drink cartons, such as Tetra Pak, and 21 new containers to recycle small electrical items.
Each ward in Brighton & Hove will have a dedicated recycling point to safely recycle small electrical items such as laptops, mobile phones, kettles and hairdryers.
Residents should expect to see the new containers in 2024.
Read more about our plans to expand recycling points in our newsroom.
New toilets and café at The Level
It was decided that we’ll go ahead with plans to introduce a brand new public toilet facility and café to The Level.
We’ll seek planning permission to renovate the MacLaren Pavilion into a fantastic new café and accessible public toilet facilities.
The MacLaren Pavilion is an existing period building sitting on the Ditchling Road side of The Level.
Our plans include 2 standard toilets, a family room and an accessible toilet.
Read more about our plans to renovate the MacLaren Pavilion in our newsroom.
Raising the costs of fines
It was agreed that fines for environmental offences such as graffiti tagging, littering and fly-tipping will be increased.
The increases are:
- Graffiti tagging from £150 to £500
- Fly-tipping from £400 up to £1000
- Littering from £150 to £300
- Flyposting from £150 to £500
The new Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) limits will be introduced from 1 December 2023.
Expanding time-banding zones
It was decided by councillors that time banding-zones, or T-Zones, will be extended for commercial bins on pavements.
The new areas covered by T-Zones can be viewed on our online managed commercial bins map.
Bins left out on streets attract anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping and littering and obstruct pavements and create hazards.
Residents and businesses were invited to share their views on the proposals in an online consultation which was presented to the committee.
Businesses will only be permitted to leave their bins out for collection on their agreed collection day between 6pm and 9am from 15 January 2024.
More information about T-Zones can be found on our time-banding zones to manage business waste webpage.
Expanding the flyering licensing area
We’re also expanding the areas in the city where a license is required to be able to hand out flyers to members of the public.
A license was already required in some central areas of the city.
Flyering can cause lots of litter and by expanding the license area and increasing the cost of FPNs, we can reclaim some of the costs of cleaning our streets and deter littering offences.
The flyering license area will be expanded from 1 December 2023.
More information about flyering and how to apply for a flyering license can be found on our flyering webpage.
Improving our provision
Councillor Tim Rowkins, Chair of the City Environment, South Downs and The Sea Committee, said: “Our recycling drop off points are an important part of our provision as they allow us to recycle items that can’t go in the kerbside or communal collections.
“I’m very pleased to be adding 54 new bins for cartons such as Tetra Pak, almost tripling the total number to 84. Currently we only have 2 drop off points for waste electrical items, and the additional 21 will mean there is one in each ward in the city.
“The Level has been without a public toilet for too long, so it’s great that we can move forward with plans for a brand new accessible toilet facility in the park. We’ve already had several expressions of interest in running the café.
“We’re committed to tackling tagging in Brighton & Hove and increasing the fine for graffiti offences is part of our plan to get on top of the problem. The increase to £500 is as high as we can go under government legislation.
“We’re looking forward to hearing views and ideas from residents and businesses on how to tackle tagging at our Re-Imagine Brighton & Hove event on Tuesday 21 November.”
A further mid-year report on the Official Feed and Food Controls Service Plan 2023/24 was also discussed and noted by the committee.
Read the full reports that were presented to the City Environment, South Downs & The Sea Committee.
