Cameras will be used to track down and fine motorists and their passengers who throw litter from cars, The Times has learnt. Local councils could use evidence collected from CCTV footage, by traffic wardens and even by members of the public on their mobile phones.

Ministers are considering whether to extend the powers of local councils to help them to tackle a problem that is blighting Britain's byways and lay-bys. A pilot scheme will begin in London this summer in which the registered keepers of vehicles will get fixed-penalty notices through the post if an incident of littering is witnessed.

Other councils are keen to adopt similar powers, Joan Ruddock, the minister for waste, confirmed to The Times last night.  Transgressors of a nationwide policy would incur fines of up to £80, but it would not lead to a criminal record or to points on a driving licence. Refusal to pay, however, could lead to prosecution and a criminal record.

It is estimated that more than 30 million tonnes of litter are collected from the streets each year and 1.3 million pieces of litter are dropped on the roads each weekend. The plan comes as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, under the direction of its president, Bill Bryson, urges everyone to support its three-year Stop the Drop campaign.

Writing in The Times today, Bryson argues that councils are still not doing enough to tackle the littering of streets and the 2.6 million fly-tipping incidents each year. According to the CPRE, more than two thirds of local authorities have not prosecuted a single fly-tipper in five years.

Councils have the power to issue on-the-spot fines for littering, but only £1.5 million is collected nationally — a fifteenth of the amount raised by the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea in parking fines. Bryson calls on councils to be more robust in prosecuting offenders, for schools to issue more guidance to pupils on littering and for the road and rail authorities to take their clean-up obligations more seriously.

He suggests a tax on takeaway food, a redeemable deposit on drinks containers and the introduction of more litter bins, many of which disappeared from cities because of security fears. Ms Ruddock said that she would have talks with Paul Bettison, of the Local Government Association, who wants a nationwide strategy to tackle littering from cars. She said: “I have great praise for Bill Bryson’s campaign. I share Bill’s anger and concerns about the blight to rural areas.”

(Times, 14/04/2008)