MORE than 40 litter louts and flytipping felons have been caught out by litter wardens in their first fortnight operating in the city.

Staff working for private firm 3GS Environmental Solutions have issued 42 fines in the first two weeks of a new agreement with Brighton and Hove City Council to crack down on waste being dumped in city streets and laybys.

The company’s bosses told The Argus that their staff will not “target” any particular offenders or have to meet any targets for a number of fines.

Opposition councillors warned that the success of the scheme would not be measured in how many fines were issued but whether it acted as a serious enough deterrent to repeat flytipping offenders.

The new scheme launched earlier this month allowing 3GS staff with body cameras to roam the streets looking for offenders.

Offenders face a £75-on-the-spot fine if caught in the act of fly-tipping, littering, flyposting, graffiti, dog fouling or disposing of commercial waste illegally.

The contract is being run at no cost to the authority with the contractor retaining the majority of income from issued penalties and the council receiving a smaller proportion.

The 42 fines issued in the first fortnight for littering, flytipping and business waste is already more than half the total issued across the whole of the city in 2014/15.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, chairwoman of the environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: “It is an issue that people care very much about littering and flytipping and the new service has been received really positively now it is up and running.

“This scheme has worked successfully in other towns and cities and I hope it will be as successful here.

“It will save the council money even though we will have to clear all the flytipping waste although that should reduce over time.

“For the first two weeks the company has been getting to know the hotspot areas where flytipping and littering are a particular problem.”

Councillor Robert Nemeth, Conservative member on the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: “The ultimate aim of this initiative is to stop fly-tipping. “Whilst I personally agree with fining anybody who drops litter, I wouldn’t judge the scheme’s success on number of fines issued.

“I am solely interested in whether or not fly-tipping is reduced – particularly around communal bins where the constant mess is hell for whoever has to live beside them.”