Row over rubbish as cleaner fined in Sussex Square, Brighton

A second councillor has also taken up the cause of domestic cleaners and domiciliary carers, with fears that hundreds risk being fined just for doing their job.

They are concerned that criminalising home helps would drive some of the area’s lowest-paid people out of business and add to the problems faced by the old and infirm.

The pair spoke out after Philip Winnan, 57, was fined £400 for taking out the rubbish for one of his clients and putting it in the nearest communal bin.

The council employs a number of environmental enforcement officers

Mr Winnan has spent decades cleaning homes in Brighton and Hove and was shocked to be fined for putting the black rubbish bag in a bin in Sussex Square.

Before communal bins were brought in there, he said, he put his customers’ rubbish in their individual bins when carrying out his work.

He said that a Brighton and Hove City Council environmental enforcement officer accused him of dumping commercial waste in Sussex Square on Thursday 20 January.

Mr Winnan said that when the litter cop ripped open the bag to make his point, it contained a chicken carcass and other food and household waste.

He said: “At the moment I’m leaving the bags. I don’t want to be caught out again. It made me feel like I’d done something really bad. It’s the same routine I’ve had for so many years.”

Mr Winnan was caught in Sussex Square, Brighton

A neighbour, Mark Walker, saw the incident and has submitted a question about it to the next meeting of the full council which is scheduled for Thursday.

Mr Walker said: “For the last 28 years Philip Winnan has been cleaning flats in Lewes Crescent and Sussex Square.

“He operates with his son through a small limited company called Chartsworth.

“An environmental enforcement officer has told Philip he will be fined £400 for placing household waste in the communal refuse bins.

“This is tragic for Philip’s livelihood and all paid-for carers in the city who look after older residents who will be criminalised for taking out household rubbish. Is this official council policy?”

Mr Winnan and Mr Walker have won the support of two councillors who represent the area which is part of the Rottingdean Coastal ward – Independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh and Conservative councillor Joe Miller.

Cllr Fishleigh said that she had taken up the case with Cityclean, the council’s rubbish and recycling service.

She wants to know how household waste can become classed as commercial waste if Mr Winnan takes it out for a client.

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Cllr Fishleigh said: “The case is tragic for Philip who will no longer able to go about his business which has supported him and his family for 28 years.

“It’s also upsetting for some of the residents who Philip cleans for, some of whom are too old and infirm to take the rubbish out themselves since the communal bins were removed from the basement courtyards of the blocks of flats.

“The case raises some important questions, not just for Philip, but for the residents of Brighton.

“The heart of the matter is that environmental enforcement does not view the rubbish as household waste.”

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Cllr Miller said: “It is very clear to me this is not an acceptable fine.

“These fines are meant to target those businesses who illegally dump their business waste in council bins.”

He said that they were not intended to target the carers and cleaners working for those residents – who pay council tax – when they put rubbish in the bin for them.

He added: “This is not business waste. It is residents’ waste and therefore the fine should be revoked.

“Many people across the city may have a cleaning business or cleaner put their waste in the bin for them. What are we going to do fine them all!”

The issue will be discussed at the next full council meeting

The council said: “It would not be appropriate for us to comment on questions to full council before councillors have had a chance to consider and discuss the matter at the full council meeting.”

The meeting is due to start at 4.30pm on Thursday and is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.