On-the-spot fines for spitting in the street
On-the-spot fines will soon be handed out to those caught spitting on the street after council chiefs agreed to the controversial move .
Fifty pound fines will be dished out within months in the same way that fixed penalty notices are given to people littering or for dog fouling.
The move has been unanimously approved by members of Cannock Chase Council's cabinet.
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Environmental health officers at the council will be briefed on the measure and it will come into force on September 1.
At the cabinet meeting yesterday, environment chief Councillor Carl Bennett said: "It offers significant benefits to the council and the offender.
"In relation to spitting, unless it rains you don't get rid of it. I want people to respect the area of Cannock.
"Visitors to the area don't want to see blobs of spit all over the place.
"I don't want anyone to be fined but I want people to respect where they live."
He added: "Each environmental officer will be briefed straight away. It would come in on September 1 so we have plenty of time to prepare.
"This is definitely enforceable as long as the officers are briefed properly.
"We will have the public on our side. People have said it's about time spitting is stopped."
Council leader George Adamson said there was 'massive support' for the move.
Only a handful of local authorities across the UK have brought in the legislation since an original nationwide ban which then carried a £5 fine was rescinded by the government in 1992.
Former police officer and Cannock West Councillor Paul Snape said earlier this week that the idea was 'great in theory but unworkable in practice.'
Waltham Forest, in London, was the first local authority to bring a successful prosecution for spitting in a public place at the end of last year. Since then it has handed out dozens of penalty notices.
Two men who challenged their prosecutions in the courts lost their case and were each ordered to pay £300 in fines and legal costs.
There was support for the suggestion when it was first mooted last year and more information was called for by Cannock councillors before the final decision was taken.
Council chiefs were told in a report that historically spitting has aided the spread of infection diseases such as tuberculosis but in more recent times with improved hygiene its public health significance has diminished.
