Meet the new litter and dog poo patrollers who will fine you £125 if you fail to pick up after your pet or drop litter anywhere in Milton Keynes

Five specialist enforcement officers have been recruited to punish people they see littering the streets and parks of Milton Keynes or failing to pick up their dog's poo.

Each officer has the power to issue a £125 on-the-spot fine to any culprit they see.

Dressed to smart black uniforms, they started patrolling the streets this week, looking out for people dropping fast food wrappers, empty coffee cups, sweet papers, used face masks and any other form of litter.

Their mission is also to catch all dog owners who fail to pick up after their pets.

On the first day alone they caught 60 people red-handed and issued 60 Fixed Penalty Notices.

The move from MK Council follows public feedback in favour of cracking down more firmly on littering around the borough. Until now, litter collection and street-cleaning has cost the council around £3.5m every year.

The wardens have also been given powers to issue FPNs for dog fouling under our Public Space Protection Order.

If the offender is under the age of 18, letters will be written to their parents or guardians to educate them on environmental issues. And plans for the future include to work with local secondary schools to help raise awareness of keeping the environment clean.

Cabinet member for the Public Realm, Cllr Lauren Townsend said: “We will clamp down on offenders who think it’s acceptable to litter our streets. Not only is littering unsightly but cleaning up after careless litterers is also an additional and totally avoidable pressure on our limited resources.

"We want to keep Milton Keynes clean and green.”