A clean and tidy Borough?
January 20, 2007 5:07 AM
An epidemic of litter and fly tipping disfigures our town and countryside and brings shame on Maidstone. What on earth has happened to the 'Clean and Tidy Borough' top priority at Maidstone Council? Why is the Government's 'Clean Neighbourhoods' legislation not being used ruthlessly to clean up our town and countryside? Why are so many residents so contemptuous of their neighborhoods that they seek to turn them into sprawling rubbish tips?
"The state of Maidstone is just not acceptable." says Councillor Tony Harwood
A walk in local woodland is an obstacle course of burned out cars, heaps of gas cylinders, asbestos, plasterboard, gutted kitchens and tyres. Footways, roads and lanes are disfigured by strandlines of litter. Hedgerows conceal split sacks of household waste and the flotsam and jetsam of the fast food industry. Lay-bys sprout derelict washing machines, refrigerators and filthy debris scooped from lorry cabs or emptied from car ash trays. Overflowing council recycling points are ringed with heaps of soggy cardboard, old clothes and broken bottles while windblown carrier bags flutter from nearby fences and trees. Parks and play areas are pock marked with a rash of coke cans, mineral water bottles and little red polythene bags - each containing a liquefying dog turd. Every water course features an obligatory shopping trolley, waterside alders and hawthorns are hung with a tracery of discarded monofilament fishing line. The war against the litter louts requires dynamism, true partnership with relevant agencies and long-suffering local residents and, crucially, constant innovation. I fear the initiative has been lost in Maidstone and we are now drowning in a rising tide of rubbish.
Cllr. Tony Harwood (Lib Dem)
Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment
Maidstone Borough Council
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