Councils have been warned to educate not litigate, under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. The Association for Public Service Excellence's (APSE) chief executive, Paul O'Brien, said councils should not overuse their new powers, otherwise they risked alienating the people they needed the support of. He said: ‘The benefit of the use of fixed-penalty notices will be lost if it is perceived that they are being used as a cash cow by councils.'
