The startling statistic was announced in a keynote speech by Minister for Local Environmental Quality, Ben Bradshaw, at today's Cleaner, Safer, Greener conference, organised by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.
Details of the fixed penalty notices issued in 2004/05 for littering, dog fouling, graffiti and fly-posting are now available on the Defra website for every local authority in the country. There is also backdated information available.
Mr Bradshaw said he was 'disturbed' to hear that of the 20,000 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) issued in England in 2004/05, 8,000 (or 40%) were never paid.
"Far too many local authorities are treating fixed penalty notices as some kind of voluntary fining scheme - what kind of message does that send to the litterbugs and vandals?
"People will only take these fines seriously if local authorities take them seriously."
In 2004/05, 354 local authorities in the country had powers to issue fixed penalty notices. Of those that provided Defra with information on the FPNs they issued:
* only 78 achieved a payment rate of over 75%;
* 33 had less than half the FPNs they issued paid;
* five had a payment rate of less than 10%;
* 142 issued no fines at all for littering.
Mr Bradshaw added:
"In the short-term, targeting resources at cleaning up might seem like the best idea, but it just isn't efficient. We need to look at changing behaviour.
"This can be achieved through education and campaigns, but where that doesn't work we need strict enforcement of the law.
"Thanks to the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, local authorities will soon have powers to issue fines for a wider range of crimes: these are powers they have asked for, and they are powers they must use.
"It's no good issuing fines only to let these litterbugs, fly-posters and irresponsible dog owners get away with it."
Mr Bradshaw will be writing to those local authorities which have poor payment records to urge them to improve their performance. Defra will also be working with Keep Britain Tidy over the coming year to provide support and training, as well as encourage local authorities to make full use of fixed penalties and to ensure that they are paid.
