AS new penalties come into effect for littering, it’s plain that people around Bolton are completely fed up with litter louts.

Now, anyone dropping litter – including from a vehicle – faces an on-the-spot fine of up to £150. Councils are being given new powers to raise fines leaping from £80 to a figure which they will set.

They can also use penalties to deal with vehicle owners if it’s possible to prove that rubbish has been thrown from their car. They don’t even need to know who threw it, the owner will get fined.

Ministers are hoping that the new fines will help tackle anti-social behaviour by those individuals who just don’t care. These are the people who empty their pockets – and their cars – of rubbish and chuck this into the street.

It costs millions every year, for example, to get rid of the chewing gum carelessly chucked away. It’s easy to see the marks gum makes around Bolton town centre but the problem is common everywhere.

Littering and fly-tipping help turn any residential area into a mess, blighting residents’ quality of life and damaging communities. Just last week five people living in Bolton were hit with fines totally £2,000 after they dumped items including a mattress, armchairs and Christmas trees in the street.

These fines definitely help and they should send out a strong message to others quite happy to dump items rather than dispose of them properly. However, it really doesn’t go far enough. Transgressors should be made to go on litter picks to show them the results of their actions.

The reality is that it is often local residents who have to pick up the tab ultimately on litter. It is caring local people who go out armed with binbags to gather litter that accumulates, from a single crisp packet or takeaway carton into an avalanche of rubbish that makes places look ugly.

They, unlike those who casually throw their rubbish anywhere, actually care about neighbourhoods and keeping them looking nice and clean.

They know that dumped rubbish and litter swiftly change a nice area into a nasty one and they’re not prepared to let that happen. While enforcement officers remove the mattresses and armchairs and ensure the right people are prosecuted, ordinary people of all ages augment local council services and take up the baton to collect large amounts of litter themselves. And they shouldn’t have to.