The City of Bradford is hiring the for-profit company 3GS to enforce municipal rules

The City of Bradford is hiring the for-profit company 3GS to enforce municipal rules on “litterbugs and even those caught spitting in public.” But the idea of privatizing the service has met with concern from some, including the local Bradford District Chamber of Trade. “Val Summerscales, secretary of the Chamber of Trade, said: ‘We would obviously welcome any attempt at improving the city centre. We don’t like to see litter in the city centre, we don’t like to see people spitting and we don’t like anti-social behavior. ‘But it begs the question why it’s deemed that the existing council workers are not able to deal with that, and why a private company is being brought in.’ Mrs. Summerscales said she wanted to know whether any council wardens would lose their jobs. She also said it would be crucial, if they didn’t want to put people off visiting the city centre, that the company struck the right balance by targeting persistent litter-louts rather than punishing people making innocent mistakes. She said: ‘We want to see them being effective, but not if they are going to be really bombastic about it and issue fines where fines are not necessary, just to fund the organization they work for.’”