Update from Eastbourne Borough Council Leader David Tutt on 07-Mar-23
Last Saturday, I spent the morning together with my colleagues in St Anthonys ward, picking up litter at the Archery recreation ground. We had originally planned to go on from there to Langney playing fields at the other end of the ward to do the same, but the sheer volume of what we found took over two hours to collect. We have organised these events at the Archery on a number of occasions, but the amount of rubbish we encountered this time was the worst that I have witnessed. Among the detritus, we found sacks of tiles, curtains, whole panes of glass and a traffic cone, whilst the hedges around the perimeter of the grounds were full of bottles and cans. I realise that some of the paper we collected could have been blown in the breeze, but most of what we found had clearly been deliberately discarded and the broken glass could cause serious injury to children who play there.
Littering has always taken place, but it seems to be getting worse, not just in Eastbourne but wherever you go. Travelling by car, you see much of the countryside strewn with litter. I know that there are many people who care about our environment and go out on a regular basis to tidy up the mess that others have made. They are unsung heroes and deserve our thanks.
The “adopt a beach” campaign has been a great success, seeing schools, community groups and individuals taking part, and making our beaches some of the cleanest in the country. This has been a great community effort, so let’s try to do the same for all our parks and recreation areas. Back for its eighth year, the Great British Spring Clean is the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign.
The Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean 2023 will take place from 17 March to 2 April, and you can pledge to pick up a bag of litter – or more – from today. Details can be found at https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean/
Stay safe!
David Tutt