Great British Spring Clean: Campaigners issue call to arms for Wigan residents to keep their communities litter-free

Wigan Council is once again supporting Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean campaign which encourages groups and individuals to lend a helping hand in the fight against litter.

Running from March 20 to April 13, the council will be supporting volunteers, friends’ groups, schools and sport club who want to help tidy our streets, parks and green spaces.

Currently, over £4m per year is spent taking litter off streets, parks and greenspaces, this includes £800,000 on fly tipping alone.

Council bosses want to make this year bigger and better than ever and will arm volunteers with equipment for litter picking to spruce up local streets and parks.

Residents are free to organise a litter-pick of their own or jump on board one that is already arranged with the council promoting events throughout.

Councillor Paul Prescott, cabinet member for environment, said: “The Great British Spring Clean provides us all with a timely reminder on how dropping litter is having a negative impact on our neighbourhoods.

“While the council will endeavour to ensure our communities are kept cleaner and greener all year round, campaigns like this are great to shine a light on the issue and get more people involved.

“If we all do our bit, we can help make a difference so I would encourage everyone to grab a litter picker and muck in during the month.”

Efforts last year saw more than 6,000 tonnes of rubbish collected and 45 community litter pick events as residents got fully behind the campaign.

The fantastic support shown borough-wide saw Wigan shortlisted as one of three finalists for the Keep Britain Tidy network award.

The month-long dedicated campaign will run in conjunction with the normal day-to-day litter pick collections carried out by the council’s Street Scene teams throughout the year.

Combatting litter remains a top priority for the council and the Draft Litter Strategy outlines the proposed aspirations developed from the Big Listening project and included in Deal 2030, to make Wigan and Leigh litter free by 2030.

It’s hoped that by inspiring people to be good citizens and to be proud of the areas they live, work or play in the borough, that more people buy into the belief that dropping litter is unacceptable.

Support for campaigns like one are just one way in which the council’s Deal 2030 aims to make Wigan Borough the best place it can be over the next decade.

Anyone interested in getting involved in this year’s Great British Spring Clean can do so via emailing [email protected]