You are all cordially invited to join LitterFreeDurham’s Big Spring Clean starting 18th March till 12th May. Individuals, schools and Community Groups are welcome to contact litterfreedurham@durham.gov.uk telephone 0300 266083 or 314622 to help remove litter from the highways and byways of Newton Aycliffe.
You need not be a member of a group or spend hours picking litter – you simply have to be aware of some litter grot spot and be prepared to do something about it. Equipment will be provided and your litter bags will be picked up after you have finished.
You will not be on your own, Newton Aycliffe has lots of people who are proud of where they live and are active in litter picking, many of them all year round.
It would be really good if the shops in the town and the factories on the estate could rally to the call and support this Co Durham and Darlington initiative. Currently M&S, Durham Wildlife, McDonalds, Cummins Engines, Orange, Arriva and the Environment Agency are all contributing to make this year even better than 2012 when over 1140 volunteers turned out and 1245 large black plastic bags of litter was removed and over 5 tons of debris dragged from the River Skerne and Wear.
Newton Aycliffe is a lovely town but it is blighted by litter. Readers of Newton News often write and complain about the state of some of the housing estates or the town centre. Some people blame our Councils but they are restricted by resources and the dreaded safety issues which increase the cost of a litter pick dramatically. Even so our Local Authorities do what they can to fight this unacceptable mess that blights our communities.
In 2005 they spent £500 million keeping our roads clean in England alone. By 2007 this figure had increased by another £200m, by 2010 we spent £858 million and last year a staggering £1billion was wasted paying for a problem which can be easily be sorted by taking your litter home. But until this penny drops, our options on how to deal with litter is limited.
We can raise Council Tax to pay for more Street Cleaning, we can leave the litter lying where it is dropped or we as communities can do something about it – we can ,organise ourselves to pick the litter up. LitterFreeDurham’s answer is that we cannot and must not do nothing.
So please help us to help you to clean up that annoying little corner where litter gets trapped or the street where you live, or the park or the play areas where litter can be a danger to little ones. All support no matter how small will help improve where you live..
Gerald G. Lee
Chairman of LitterFreeDurham
