Coín Council has introduced a new set of city ordinances relating to hygiene and cleanliness and covering a multitude of activities ranging from washing pets to urinating in public.
The new measures are divided into categories, namely light, serious and very serious, with fines ranging from €90 to €30,000 depending upon the severity of the violation. The new ordinances include penalties for:
Light:
- Washing vehicles on the street
- Unauthorised placing of posters or placing promotional leaflets on vehicles in the streets
- Watering plants if it involves water ending up on the street
- Urinating or spitting on the public highway
- Washing pets on the streets
- Abandoning a vehicle on the street
- Depositing waste into the sewage system
- Graffiti
- Putting household rubbish into containers specifically for paper
- Putting out rubbish bags onto the streets
- Failing to remove animal excrement
- Pouring dirty water onto the streets
The so-called ‘light’ offences, of which there are 40 in total, carry fines ranging from €90 to €300.
Infringements regarded as ‘very serious’ and, therefore, carrying fines of up to €30,000, relate mainly to the abandonment, unauthorised disposal or uncontrolled dumping of waste considered toxic or injurious to public health and to acts of theft or vandalism such as the burning of waste containers.
There are also new regulations relating to private construction work carried out on the streets. Loading and unloading areas must have protective fencing and, in general, the carrying out of the works must not foul the highway. In certain cases, transportation vehicles must have their wheels washed to avoid tarnishing the highway.