Former roads minister Mike Penning suggests prisoners be used to clean Hampshire's motorways - as government trails new anti-littering technology

Sir Mike Penning said inmates and those subject to community payback orders should be supervised to litter pick alongside major roads in the country.

He highlighted roadside clean-up crews involving prisoners in the United States, but noted they are ‘not chained up or anything like that’. Sir Mike also suggested awareness courses as part of stronger penalties for those motorists caught littering.

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Roadside cameras could be used to catch those guilty of littering, MPs heard. In a parliament debate at Westminster Hall, Penning said: ‘Perhaps we should do something not dissimilar that we did when I was the minister when we brought in the driver awareness course.

‘Fines weren’t working, points weren’t working but actually the evidence for driver awareness courses shows that drivers do actually drive better and slower after they’ve done such a course.’

‘I think, frankly, if someone has broken the law and they get a community project, I can’t think of a better way of paying back into the community than actually being in a team, done safely, going out, clearing the rubbish from the sides of our roads.

‘I’m told that when I was the minister’s position that that was not possible because it wasn’t safe. Well, I used to be the health and safety minister as well in a different time. It could be made safe.

He added people who have been ‘blighting’ his community should be ‘supervised out there cleaning the roads’.

Sir Mike said: ‘One of the reasons if you go to Florida and you drive down those wonderful clean roads, it’s because they actually use people who are incarcerated to actually go and clear the roads.

‘They are not dangerous criminals but they are people that are in for short-term sentences, they are not chained up or anything like that, but if they scarper, eventually of course they will be found – at the end of the day they will not have any parole.’

The Hemel Hempstead MP was also critical of National Highways, which cleans litter on motorways and a small number of A roads in England.

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Transport minister Richard Holden, replying to the debate, said: ‘National Highways has previously utilised the Ministry of Justice’s community payback project scheme to assist with clearances. Offenders have been involved in removing graffiti and rubbish at service stations as well. The Government still owns a significant number of service stations on the national highway network. However, due to safety considerations the opportunities can be limited in using offenders.’

‘Government and National Highways are exploring the potential of technology to be harnessed and used to tackle littering, such as using number plate recognition cameras for littering enforcement and to influence littering behaviour as well. We’re trialling the use of geofencing to push anti-littering messages to customers’ devices at 29 lay-bys currently on the A50 and A180.’

East Hampshire District Council will issue fixed penalty notices or pursue prosecution as appropriate, the minister said.