Calderdale litter louts and fly-tippers set to face tougher fines as council ploughs ahead with beefing up penalties.

Recommending to colleagues that the full Calderdale Council steps up its use of fixed penalty notices to deal with issues from nuisance parking to illegal waste disposal, the authority’s cabinet members backed the changes.

Coun Jenny Lynn (Lab, Park) said the council was pursuing a “carrot and stick” approach she hoped would both be encouraging for people to do their bit for their environment, with the “stick” being the fines.

These include new penalties for fly-tipping – where anyone caught could have to pay £400, although bigger and more serious cases would still go through full criminal proceedings in the courts – and smoking in taxis.

The fines are useful because the council will be able to use them to deal with issues quickly, said Coun Lynn, cabinet member for Public Services and Communities, who hoped councillors would support the changes when they consider them.

Cabinet member for Towns, Tourism and the Voluntary Sector, Coun Sarah Courtney (Lab, Calder), hoped people would take pride in their area but sadly the “stick” was also needed.

"It needs to have the same stigma as other things that you can be fined for because we should be cracking down on people making their place look unpleasant,” she said.

Coun Josh Fenton-Glynn (Lab, Calder), cabinet member for Adult Services and Wellbeing, said he had been emailed by a young person raising an issue of builders not disposing of their waste properly, which had been reported to the council’s enforcement team.

They were worried about rubbish which had been tipped into a river and causing harm, he said.

“It says that the next generation ‘gets it’, unfortunately you have to ask this generation to be a bit more responsible,” he said.

Recently, Director of Public Services Ian Day told scrutiny councillors that in the case of less serious fly-tipping cases, the fines imposed by the courts would not be higher than the £400 the council could levy itself, and the process would be quicker to deal with offenders.