This is my Doncaster - Your Reports

Some customers have complained that nothing happens when they report environmental crimes: like littering, dog fouling and fly-tipping. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and every report we receive is vital in helping us prevent these crimes. Let’s take a look at exactly what happens when you send in a report to us.

Reporting

The most effective way to report an incident to Doncaster Council is by completing the appropriate form; the link is at the end of this text.

You may want to report:

  • dog fouling
  • dumped rubbish, or litter thrown from a vehicle
  • graffiti or fly-posting
  • overflowing litter bins

It’s vital that you give us as much information as possible:

  • if you’ve seen anyone commit an offence; give us a description of the person you have witnessed
  • if you know where they live; please tell us
  • what was the offence, where did it take place and what time?
  • a relevant license plate number, or anything else that might help us investigate

Processing

Your report goes to our customer services team:

  • someone enters the information on our system, which is called Lagan
  • if your report contained enough information and detail to investigate the incident, it gets forwarded to our enforcement team
  • if the report is very basic and just has the location of the problem, it is sent on to the Street Scene team for a clean-up

Action

Depending on what team your report has gone to, it will be dealt with in different ways.

If it was sent straight to Street Scene, they will attend the area to clean up the problem within a certain number of days. For example, our target is that every report of fly-tipping will be cleaned up within seven days unless it is being investigated.

 If your report was detailed, and our enforcement team think there might be a chance of catching someone, or following up on the incident; then they will investigate. They can catch the culprit if there is enough evidence. From January 2019 to December 2020 a total of 6476 fixed penalty notices for environmental crime were issued.

Why haven't I seen anything happen? 

We know it can be very frustrating when you don’t see an immediate response to your report of environmental crime, but rest assured the process we have explained above is used for every single report we receive.

It may be that you haven’t seen the enforcement officer who has been investigating the fly-tipped rubbish, or that the dog poo has been scheduled in for Street Scene to come and remove on their routine rounds. It could even be that a new incident has taken place, which is equally frustrating.

Our advice is to wait for a week or so after your first report – if you think there hasn’t been any action to address the problem then report it again. The more times you report environmental crime, the more of a priority your area will become, as well as giving us better chance of catching culprits by targeting our enforcement.

Last updated: 19 April 2021 08:25:24

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