A CONTROVERSIAL scheme to keep the streets of Darlington litter and dog-foul free has been binned earlier than anticipated.

Earlier this month, Darlington Borough Council announced its pilot scheme to bring a private team of litter enforcement officers was coming to an conclusion at the end of March.

Kingdom Service Group was drafted in to help the council enforce its ‘zero tolerance’ approach to littering on an initial six-month trial period.

The Northern Echo:

Launch of the pilot scheme

However, staff were told on Friday that their services were no longer needed as the contract had terminated with immediate affect.

One shocked member of staff, who didn’t want to be named, spoke of his shock after hearing the unexpected news.

He said: “We came into work on Friday morning and we were told that we were no longer needed – that was all we were no told. There was no warning or explanation, we were told to go home.

“It was quite a shock as we were expecting to work up until the end of March when we knew the contract was coming to an end but we now have no idea what is happening.

"It was the council who told us the news – it wasn't even anyone from Kingdom Service Group. That wasn't a very professional way to find out I was no longer needed for work."

At a borough council cabinet meeting earlier this month, members approved the proposal to scrap the pilot scheme and decided that in future the authority’s community safety team would be relied upon to tackle those illegally leaving mess behind.

During the meeting, Councillor Nick Wallis, the council’s leisure and local environment boss, said the project had left the town's streets much cleaner but he said he had not appreciated how people were caught – with reports of people being followed around the town.

Confirming the decision to end the contract more than a month early, a council spokesman said: “The decision to end the contract early was made by mutual consent between the Council and Kingdom. Throughout the our time working together, the we have always been supportive towards Kingdom’s staff.”

Late last year, The Northern Echo revealed there had been several anecdotal reports of agents chasing people down the street, tracking smokers and following suspected litterers in a persistent and intimidating manner, entering businesses to confront customers and threatening to fine parents who had not noticed their children dropping litter.

Council figures showed the scheme had resulted in 574 fixed penalty notices issued in the first three months of the project.

Darlington Borough Council said 92 per cent of the £75 fines between October 1 and December 31 were issued within the town centre.

A spokesman for the authority said 559 of the notices were issued for discarding cigarette ends, 14 for other littering offences and only one was issued for dog fouling.

Before December 31, 66 appeals against the notices had been received, of which 19 had been upheld.

Last night, no one was available from Kingdom Service Group for comment.