Residents face £200 fines for fox and gull-ravaged rubbish

“We’ll be back.” That is not the infamous cry of Arnie but of Canterbury City Council’s Environmental Crime Officers after hitting two residents with £200 fines each.

People living and running businesses in and around the area of Herne Bay High Street are tired of those who put out their domestic and commercial waste on the street to be attacked by foxes and seagulls. They leave it strewn across the roads and pavement.

Last month, officers arrived at 4am on subsequent mornings to investigate what had been dumped overnight and by whom.

Two residents were issued with fixed penalty notices for the offence of littering.

Officers will be turning up unannounced in future weeks and months to catch any other culprits.

Cllr Connie Nolan, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, Safety and Enforcement, said: “When people don’t follow the rules around putting their rubbish out at the right time, everyone else suffers.

“Being faced with putrid piles of waste every morning must be disheartening and affect your quality of life.

“That is especially true for the crews from our waste contractor Canenco who have to clear it all up by hand day after day after day.

“Our officers specialising in environmental crime are early birds and will be back – if they catch you in the act, you will also be fined £200 and rightly so.

“For those businesses not disposing of their waste legitimately, we will be checking on them too.”

The rules for people living near the High Street and businesses operating in the area are:

• domestic waste should only be put out in council-issued purple sacks
• domestic rubbish day in the High Street is on Tuesdays – rubbish should not be put out before 5pm on Mondays except on bank holidays when changes to the normal arrangements are heavily publicised
• businesses need to arrange for a commercial waste contractor to take their rubbish away

If residents are struggling to store their waste, they need to talk to their landlords.

Residents can report a missed collection on the council’s website where they can also report littering and flytipping.

Published: 29 July 2025