Councillor calls for Community litter squad to clean up Southport
A leading campaigner for the restoration and improvement of Southport is calling for the introduction of a community litter squad to tackle fly tipping and the accumulation of rubbish across the town.
Cllr David Barton made the recommendation following a series of incidents across the area, with Bath Street, Booth Street, Victoria Street and Lord Street among the worst affected.
The situation has led to calls for skips to be placed in key locations to help deal with the problem.
However it is feared that introducing skips will simply encourage more people to ignore Sefton Council’s regular waste collection services.
There are also concerns that once skip locations are publicised they will be used to dispose of building material, they would regularly overflow, people wouldn’t want them outside their properties and that they would have to be policed to prevent unwanted items such as gas bottles and asbestos being dumped.
Cllr David Barton, who represents Dukes Ward, said a community litter squad operating alongside the normal refuse services would be a more effective way of tackling the problem.
He has already raised the issue with council cleansing bosses and said that there has been an encouraging response.
He said: “The squad would effectively be mobile squad that would work on Saturday mornings collecting fly tipped items seen by the public and councillors during the week.
“It would also visit known hotspots of fly tipping within Southport and generally add to the current level of service.”
Cllr Barton said the litter squad could also attend events such as Southport Air Show to help with the clean-up operation.
He said: “The costs of such as scheme, especially if initially introduced as a three-month trial, would be minor compared to the results in terms of cleaning up our town and making it look smart and attractive to residents and visitors alike.”
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