PEOPLE who ignore bins and drop their rubbish on the street will be given on the spot fines in a crackdown by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

Community Safety Patrol Officers are to start issuing fixed penalty notices of £75 to anyone they see littering, in a new tougher approach following improvements to the Top of The Town and Market Square.

The borough council says that litter doesn’t just blight streets around Basingstoke and Deane but it also costs them money to clean up.

The town’s Market Square was repaved last November by Hampshire County Council and the borough council has also spent £18,000 removing chewing gum from the surrounding streets as part of the Basingstoke Town Centre Programme to improve the area.

The borough council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for strategy, with responsibility for community safety, Councillor Ranil Jayawardena, said: “Whether it's a cigarette butt or fast food packaging, it is not acceptable for people to drop their litter on our streets.

“We will not allow a small number of people to spoil the town for everyone else. I would like to encourage everyone to dispose of their litter sensibly, with the warning that our officers will fine people spotted flouting the law.”

The borough council's cabinet member for housing and regeneration, Cllr Terri Reid, added: "We're creating a more vibrant, cleaner and safer town.

“That's why we've recently deep cleaned the Top of The Town and also been involved in repaving the Market Square to make these areas more attractive. It's important that we keep it this way."