Ministers plan to let town and parish councils issue on-the-spot fines for vandalism, graffiti and dropping litter.
Alert Bloggees whose amusements include watching the Queen's opening of parliament will have noticed a neat little paragraph on proposed legislation as summarised above. Community Councils in Scotland equate to Parish Councils in England. So there is the prospect of the Hutton and Paxton CC being able to employ an enforecement officer with powers to impose on the spot fines for a whole range of nuisance offences including Dog Fouling (that is fouling by dogs not on them-that is not yet a crime) 'throwing fireworks, excessive 'night time noise' (snoring?) . This is not really a problem in this part of the Merse but it would be good to have the powers ready to hand in case it is- excessive night time noise involving the throwing of fireworks is surely just around the corner. It is unclear if the legislation will apply to Scotland. I suspect not so we may need to consider organising popular support for such measures to be introduced by the Scottish executive. So start marching soon
