[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Primary legislation

Primary legislation

Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, s.43, s.44, s.45, s.46, s.47

These sections allow authorised officers of local authorities (including persons not directly employed by the authority), “accredited” officers and Community Support Officers to issue fixed penalty notices to those people who physically commit ‘minor’ acts of graffiti and fly posting (being existing offences in respect of which they are already liable for prosecution). The fixed penalty amount can be set by the local authority within a range of £50 - £80, or, if no amount is specified, the default amount (£75) will apply. Community Support Officers and "accredited persons" must use the amount set by the local authority. Discounts can be offered for early payment (the local authority sets the number of days in which the discount will apply), but the discounted amount cannot be less than £50. Guidance on fixed penalty notices has been published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to help the relevant authorities get to grips with their new powers. Guidance has also been published for issuing fixed penalties to juveniles. Under section 43B it is an offence for suspected offender to fail to give, or to give false details to an authorised officer in connection to the issuing of fixed penalty notices.

Read the relevant sections of the Act at the website of the Office of Public Sector Information

Download the guidance on fixed penalty notices from the Defra website (280k)

Download the guidance on issuing fixed penalties to juveniles from the Defra website (133k)

Defacement removal notices (Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 sections 48-52)

These sections enable a local authority to serve a “defacement removal notice” on the owners of street furniture, statutory undertakers and educational institutions whose property is defaced with graffiti or fly-posting that is either detrimental to the amenity of the area or offensive. If the defacement is not removed within a specified time (minimum 28 days), the local authority can intervene and clean it up themselves, with due reference to guidance issued by the Secretary of State. An appeals process is available.

Unlawful display of advertisements (Town and Country Planning Act 1990, sections 220 and 224)

Section 220 gives the Secretary of State powers to make regulations restricting or regulating the display of advertisements so far as it appears to the Secretary to State to be expedient in the interests of amenity or public safety. There is a power to make regulations enabling the Local Planning Authority to require the removal of advertisements and the discontinuance of the use of the site for display of advertisements. It is an offence under section 224 to display an advertisement in contravention of the regulations under section 220 of that Act. A person found guilty of this offence may be liable to a fine not exceeding level 4 (currently £2,500) on the standard scale.

Removal of placards and posters (Town and Country Planning Act 1990 section 225)

This section enables a local planning authority to remove or obliterate any poster or placard the display of which is, in the authority’s opinion, in contravention of the section 220 Regulations. Notice must first be given where the placard or poster identifies the person who displayed it, or caused it to be displayed.

The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 amended section 225, introducing powers for local planning authorities to recover the costs incurred when removing fly-posters. The 2005 Act also amended the statutory defence in section 224 so that the local authority no longer has to prove that a person consented to the display of an advertisement in contravention of the regulations. The only defence now is that the advertisement was displayed without the person’s knowledge.