Enforcement officers wearing bodycams have been given the power to issue fines to people caught littering, throwing away cigarettes and flytipping in the town.
The officers are employed by the Kingdom Services Group, which provides a range of services, including civil enforcement.
The enforcement team will begin work in the town at no extra cost to Reading Borough Council.
Two trainers and two team members went on patrol in the town centre today (Thursday, September 11) ahead of the beginning of the partnership.
A team of five enforcers will work in Reading.
Karen Rowland (Labour, Abbey), lead councillor for environmental services, said: “We brought a team along in response to residents’ concerns about litter and fly tipping in the town.
“It’s one of the things that residents on our annual surveys complain about, as a council we want to address and tackle those the same way we’ve done with the highways and the roads previously, at a time where we’ve got budget concerns, as every council does, we need to be looking at the most efficient ways we can manage that and this trial comes at no cost to the council.”
Kingdom is funded from revenue from the fixed penalty notice (FPN) fines it issues.
Councillor Rowland then said that the Kingdom team will work alongside the council’s existing enforcement team, which has shared knowledge of problem areas for littering, such as the town centre, and flytipping at bottle banks.
She explained: “Unfortunately, that team is a little bit small because they’ve got a lot of things to deal with litter, flytipping, household waste, commercial waste, and all of those issues, along with also educating our residents about better recycling.”
Will Russell, a key account director at Kingdom, stated that the rate of cancellations for the fines issued is less than 0.5 per cent.
He said: “That just shows the quality of what we’re delivering.
“Obviously, we want to make sure that enforcement action is correct, and if further investigations provide evidence that a fine was issued incorrect, then we will act on that.”
Those caught could face a maximum fine of £500 for littering and graffiti is £500 (up from £80), £1,000 for fly-tipping (up from £400), and £600 the incorrect disposal of household waste (from £400).
Cllr Rowland said: “If you’re a good guy in Reading, this is tailor-made for you. You should be in love with this.
“You should be hoping, like we all hope, that this is going to be a great success.
“If you’re a bad boy, if you drop litter and cigarette butts, you you are wasteful with your fast food box or bag, you might be the unfortunate recipient of a fine.”
The Kingdom enforcement team will officially begin work on Monday, September 15.
The company has partnerships with 42 councils.
