Newbury residents are being asked to join Newbury Town Councillors in the Annual Community Clean, sponsored by McDonalds, on Saturday 25 March 2017. Starting at 1pm, groups of residents, including Newbury Town Councillors will meet at the following locations to complete a two hour Community Clean litter pick.
- Falkland Memorial, Wash Common
- Car Park at the corner of Waller Drive and Stoney Lane
- Northcroft Park
- Digby Road Park
- Retail Park – outside McDonalds
Cllr Margo Payne, Chairperson of the Civic Pride Arts & Leisure Committee said, “We are lucky to live in such a beautiful town, it is such a shame that it is sometimes spoilt by people who do not take responsibility for their own litter and dispose of it responsibly.”
Just to prove how much we want to make a difference, Newbury Town Council are inviting residents to join Councillors and go out into the streets and open spaces of our town on Saturday 25 March and litter pick. By these actions we hope to show the rest of the community how big a problem litter is, and to encourage them to start disposing of it properly.
Figures released by the UK’s biggest anti-litter campaign, Keep Britain Tidy, have revealed:
- That council taxpayers in the UK pay £1billion a year to clean the streets;
- Over 30m tonnes of litter are collected from our streets each year;
- Thanks to the growing presence of dropped food, the UK rat population now stands at approximately sixty million;
- People can be fined £80 for dropping litter. Last year 44,000 people were prosecuted.
The Community Clean will begin to tackle rubbish starting at the locations listed above at 1pm on Saturday 25 March 2017. It is hoped that as many volunteers as possible will come and join the Councillors and that the rest of the community gets the message that dropping litter is ‘simply not on’.
Cllr Margo Payne remarked, “This clean up will show others that we care about the future of our local environment and that we are not prepared to live, work and play in an area that is blighted by rubbish. It’s great to work together like this and create a sense of community. For some of our younger volunteers it is their first taste of active citizenship and the Council will award them with Certificates of Attendance which they can add to their CV’s or portfolios. Volunteers can just turn up on the day, so please join us.”
