More fines for butts and more bicycle and shoplifting in Ostend

The number of bicycle thefts increased again in 2022 after a downward trend in 2020 and 2021. Compared to 2021, this number will increase by 40%, although the number of bicycle thefts will remain lower than in 2017 (decrease of 27%). The number of shoplifting remains stable compared to 2017, although there is an increase of 15% compared to 2021. Covid-19 will also have an impact here.

Cleanliness remains a priority

In 2022, the city will also focus strongly on cleanliness and associated cleanliness checks. The figures for illegal dumping are a lot lower than in other years. In general, there are many more findings of violations of cleanliness, especially around waste streets and on the disposal of cigarette butts. The findings regarding the disposal of butts increased from 172 in 2020 to 1446 in 2021 to 3261 in 2022.

Declining figures for blue zone infringements and dogs on the beach

In recent years, the blue zone has been checked twice a day (no parking disc/limited parking time). In 2022, due to a rearrangement of staff deployment, there was always 1 inspection per day. This results in lower figures for 2022 compared to the other years. This is also the case with the figures for dog infringements on the beach. Dogs are now allowed on the beach in many zones and at long hours, including in summer, which explains the lower figure.