BUSINESSES will be punished to the full extent of the city council’s powers if they don’t co-operate with plans to tidy up Winchester’s streets, councillors have said.

As part of the city’s Trade Waste Initiative, the council plans to work with shops and restaurants in the city centre in a bid to get unsightly trade waste bins off the streets and alleyways.

Under the scheme businesses being targeted would be contacted by the council later this year, with enforcement action being triggered if they had not made improvements by the end of May 2018.

A report outlining the scheme said the council aims to make Winchester “a premier business destination” and “improve the quality of the district’s environment”.

The report added: “A well presented city is an attractive one for visitors and encourages them to spend time and money in local shops and eateries.

“A combination of collaborative approaches and enforcement [will be] undertaken to encourage behaviour by businesses that will bring about an improved environment in the city centre.”

The scheme is part of a partnership between Winchester City Council and the Business Improvement District (BID) and follows a long-term campaign by councillors Ian Tait and Fiona Mather who have been raising awareness of the issue of trade bins cluttering the city centre.

It is also tied with plans to upgrade St Maurice’s Covert, a historic covered passageway on the High Street, which would see the area cleaned up with new lighting and a covered bin store.

Cllr Tait said: “You give businesses a limited time to change their ways after after that you act. We are so lax on the bins.

“I’m keen that the council [will be] firm. If households continuously leave bins on the street they get a snotty letter from the council.

“[High Street restaurant] Zizzi were asked to remove bins and they took no action. Côte Brasserie and Pret a Manger don’t leave their bins so it can be done.”

A spokesman for Zizzi in Winchester declined to comment.

The proposal comes after a rise in the number of food outlets opening in the city in recent years, with Patisserie Valerie, Pret a Manger and Warrens Bakery, which launched this week, opening in 2017 alone. Caribbean restaurant chain Turtle Bay will also be coming to the city, with the restaurant currently under construction.