Thousands of fines have been dished out to smokers dropping cigarette butts in Southampton. 

The council generated £2,485 in fines in 2022. 

More than 80 per cent of these were handed out in Above Bar Street alone.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Daily Echo has shown that there were 3,029 fixed penalty notices issued in Southampton for dropped cigarettes last year. 

Of these, 2,448 were in Above Bar.

Daily Echo: Councillor Matt Renyard. Councillor Matt Renyard.

The council's Safer City boss, Cllr Matt Renyard says the figures are of "great concern" and demonstrate why fines form part of the authority's combined approach of education and behavioural change. 

He added: "We have an enforcement service in place to catch people who drop litter, which includes cigarettes, as it impacts negatively on the quality of our environment.

"Above Bar Street is a high footfall area, regularly patrolled by our littering enforcement officers, so it is of no great surprise that so many incidents were from this area.

"These enforcement measures do not generate income for the council; it’s about driving behaviour change and should make people less inclined to drop litter in the future.”

READ MORE: Southampton Debenhams: Litter and rats spotted inside former store

According to the authority's website, the fixed penalty for littering is currently £100: reduced to £65 if this is paid within ten days. 

Last year, 325 of the fines issued ended with no further action, in comparison to 211 the year before. 

But the authority says that enforcement was suspended between January and March 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic so fewer fines were given out. 

Health and social care boss, Cllr Lorna Fielker recently became one of 40 senior councillors in the UK to sign a letter calling for the impact of smoking to be reduced. 

The joint letter, which was sent to the secretary of state for Health and Social Care, Steven Barclay, urges the government to bring forward a tobacco control plan and introduce a levy on manufacturers. 

Follow the latest court and crime news in the Southampton area by joining our Facebook group - Hampshire Court and Crime News

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article on the Daily Echo. Your support means we can bring you the latest breaking news, exclusive Saints features and coverage - and much more.

Digital subscribers get unrestricted access to all of our stories, our dedicated app including e-version of the newspaper, and an advertising-light website.

If you want all the latest articles delivered straight to your inbox you can join the thousands of subscribers who are signed up to our newsletters.

They include our popular daily morning news briefing, breaking news, crime and court, and Southampton FC bulletins - plus business, heritage and our what's on newsletters.