Fenland Council has promised no let up in their battle to stop spitting in the street and people dropping cigarette butts on the pavement.

The council has picked Kingdom Services Group to carry on for a further two years to help the Tidy Fenland Campaign.

Although one of three of the fixed penalty notices are never collected, the council says the collection rate of 67 per cent means the service is still cost neutral.

Kingdom has beaten two other applicants to retain the contract for two years from next month with the potential to extend it by a further two years.

Fenland Council says they have been working jointly with Peterborough City Council and “has received three competitive bids to deliver a cost neutral environmental enforcement service”.

“The service will be shared with Peterborough City Council. Other councils within Cambridgeshire may access the same service provider, under a separate contract.”

Kingdom will also provide a tenth of their time to “non-income generating tasks in green spaces, such as joining volunteers to litter pick or patrolling for issues to support the community, support for volunteering and education programmes”.

In December Fenland Council revealed that Wisbech is the worst offending town where in just one month 35 people were given fixed penalty notices for dropping litter and 17 were given penalty notices for contravening the alcohol public spaces protection order.

By comparison – and in the same month – only one person in March was given a ticket for littering although nine tickets for littering were handed out in Whittlesey.

Five people caught spitting in Wisbech in just one month were each handed a £75 fixed penalty notice by the enforcement team hired by Fenland District Council to crackdown on anti social behaviour.

Between April and October last year there were 253 fixed penalty notices issued for littering and spitting offences of which 40 were referred for prosecution, 13 withdrawn and cancelled and 163 paid.

In October 12 littering cases were heard at Peterborough magistrates’ court when 11 were found guilty and each fined a total of £410. In one instance a case has been adjourned for trial this month following a not guilty plea.

Two further people paid a total fine of £150 prior to their court date and the matter was withdrawn.