A COUNCIL'S decision to award controversial litter squad Kingdom a new contract of up to six years has been upheld – but not without a stern warning “much closer attention” will be paid to its operations.

Wirral council stuck with the initial decision to award the firm a new contract at a call-in meeting on Tuesday, when witnesses gave evidence from both sides.

Five residents who have had negative experiences with Kingdom officers addressed the environment overview and scrutiny committee, as did the council’s commissioning services manager Andy McCartan.

Among those residents was Eileen Mckane, who had an altercation with the firm over dog poo she was adamant was not her pet’s.

The case went to court before it was ultimately dropped by Kingdom, but the experience saw Ms Mckane require a course of antidepressants

Another witness to address the committee was a grandmother of 16 who was confronted by an officer having allegedly dropped a “tiny little bit of paper”. It came after she bought her friend a portable heater from a Birkenhead shop during the cold weather earlier this year.

She told the committee: “Kingdom need to be spoken to – they need to change their attitude. I’ve always shopped in Birkenhead, now I’m uncomfortable shopping there. This man frightened the living daylight out of me.”

But it was heard the complainants addressing the committee were in the “minority” of the total 25,000 littering tickets reportedly handed out across Wirral since the contract started.

Mr McCartan said: “Kingdom have done an excellent job in the past two years in terms of helping us achieve cleaner streets and tackle poor behaviour.

“It’s about challenging behaviours. The fact we have issued over 25,000 tickets suggests there is a problem. 98% of litter is dropped intentionally.”

Environment cabinet member Cllr Matthew Patrick said: “I am sorry [the residents addressing the committee] have had a distressful situation which I’m hoping we can make sure doesn’t happen again. These processes can be checked rigorously.

“But it’s a low level of complaints. Of course there are going to be times when mistakes are made or people transgress from their responsibilities.

“To issue over 25,000 tickets is eye-watering. You only need to walk down the street to see there is a problem [with littering in Wirral].”

Describing Kingdom as a “great asset”, Cllr Patrick added: “To reject this contract would be a terrible message to send out to people.

“We cannot be seen to say littering on the streets and in our beautiful parks is acceptable.

“I do stand by the decision – it’s a journey of behaviour change.”

Lead signatory of the call-in Cllr Gilchrist told the committee: “Members have begun to appreciate a more robust approach. We need balance to ensure the contractor is doing what its been asked to do.”

When asked whether he wanted Kingdom’s partnership with Wirral cancelled, Cllr Gilchrist said he wanted an “evaluation” of the contract, and that it “would seem reasonable to give [the firm] a further year while we tightened up procedures”.

He added: “We all want a cleaner Wirral and there are people who carelessly toss litter around.

“But we want them to work in clear and accessible guidelines.”

The decision to uphold the contract was voted through by all but one member of the committee, but it was agreed Kingdom’s operations would be discussed at every one of the committee’s meetings – generally held four times a year.

Committee member Cllr Adrian Jones said: “We will be taking much closer attention to sort of things we have heard tonight.”

The news means a three-year extension of the council’s first environmental enforcement contract, which has been in place since 2015 and covers offences like dog fouling and littering.

The decision also has the option of extending the contract for a further three years to a total of six – stretching to 2024.