Information on Loughborough

The Big Tidy Up in Loughborough and Charnwood

Posted on 19/09/2008
P. Klein

The Big Tidy Up

A BLITZ on litter across the country is being backed by Charnwood Borough Council.

The Big Tidy Up is a nationwide initiative launched by Keep Britain Tidy this month and thousands of litter picks are taking place. Schools, groups, businesses, or even just you and your mates - lets all get together and have a great Big Tidy Up!

Council officers are supporting the scheme by offering the loan of free litter-picking tools to schools, businesses and community groups who are keen to play their part in making Charnwood a Cleaner, Greener place.

The Russell Street tidy up will be taking place during the week commencing the 29th September and will revolve around the Russell St estate area and extend to Moira Street etc in Loughborough. Any volunteers are more than welcome to join in. The more the merrier. Through this tidy up we are hoping to get the community together and to instill a sense of pride in where they live ion the hope the area will stay clean. There will be more information of the Big Tidy Up Website

Youth Zone and AREACA are joining forces to tidy up the local area on SUNDAY 21st SEPTEMBER 2008 at 1.30pm to 3.30pm. At Youth Zone, they looked at their local environment with the children and one of things they were most concerned about was the amount of litter and rubbish in the local area, so they are joining forces with the Ashby Road Estates Community Association to do something about it during the big tidy up campaign. You can come and join us by meeting at The Hut, Old Ashby Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire at 1pm to 1.30pm to join the clean up, and all volunteers are invited back to the Hut at the end of the cleanup for a much earned drink and hotdog!!

Although the campaign was kick-started in September, the litter picks can take place throughout the year and groups are being encouraged to take advantage of the assistance available from the Council.

Victoria Brackenbury, Charnwood Borough Councils Waste Education Officer, said: "The Big Tidy Up is a great opportunity to bring people together in a community and tackle the issue of littering in a productive way.

"We have a number of litter-picking tools that are available free of charge to help any school, business or community group that wants to make a difference by carrying out a tidy up in the Borough.

Charnwood has made excellent progress in ensuring its streets are free of litter with latest figures showing that 89% of the streets in the Borough are deemed by Government to be at an acceptable level of cleanliness.

This is an improvement of 10% on 2006-07, when just 79% were thought to be acceptably clean.

Cllr Mike Preston, Charnwood Borough Councils Cabinet member for the Environment, added: "The Big Tidy Up is an excellent way of encouraging schools, businesses and community groups take pride in their area " and I hope that organisations will take up our offer of free help when organising a litter pick.

"We are working hard to ensure that Charnwood is a cleaner, greener place to live, work and visit and initiatives such as this can only help us achieve our goals much quicker.

The Big Tidy Up is just one of several initiatives used by the Council to tackle the problem of litter.

Charnwood recently added an applied sweeper to its fleet of refuse, recycling and cleansing vehicles that help make the area a cleaner, greener place to live, work and visit.

The sweeper has been branded with anti-littering messages which encourage people to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

Anyone caught dropping litter littering also faces the risk of a fine.

In 2007-08, the Councils Street Wardens issued 157 Fixed Penalty Notices for littering, which cost the offender £80 or £50 if paid within 10 days.

To find out more about the Big Tidy Up in Charnwood and request help at a litter pick, call Victoria on (01509) 634 764 or email victoria.brackenbury@charnwood.gov.uk

The Big Tidy Up