Only 1% of community littering reports in the last two years has resulted in a fine while Hackney Council has been investing millions in keeping the borough’s streets clean.
A freedom of information request revealed that 3 out of 298 reports made by residents in the last year and a half led to fines being issued.
Of those three fines, one fixed penalty notice (FPN) was handed out in 2025, with the other two issued in 2024. The average penalty was £200.
The scheme, intended to boost the council’s ability to punish littering by allowing the public to report individual incidents, makes up a small proportion of the overall number of FPNs issued.
Hackney Council said it issued “more than 1,500 fines for offences such as littering, dog fouling and fly-tipping last year.” Only two of those 1,500 fines came from community-made reports – just 0.13%.
Cllr Sarah Young said: “We invest millions each year in keeping them [Hackney’s streets] clean. Over the last year we’ve issued three fines a day on average for littering, dog-fouling and other offences.”
The three fines given as a result of residents’ reports over the last two years sharply contrast the three fines issued a day by authorities, according to Cllr Young.
Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock said: “More needs to be done in terms of education and providing options for people to dispose of bulky waste easily and cheaply.
“Unfortunately, we’re still experiencing issues of littering and fly-tipping that lessens our enjoyment of our public space,” he added.
A council spokesperson said: “We welcome and encourage residents to report littering issues to us which enables us to clean these [up] promptly.
“It is not always possible to identify the perpetrators of littering […] we also need to strike a balance between responding quickly to reports of littering and other cleanliness issues,” they said.
Joshua Haining is a freelance news reporter for The Daily Telegraph. He has written previously written for The Times and The Northern Echo, where he reported on news and culture.