Gibfield residents come together to keep public rights of way clean with 10 bags of litter collected
Members of the Gibfield Preservation Group took time out during the bank holiday weekend to help keep the many footpaths on the land that has been earmarked for industrial developments clean.
The Gibfield Preservation Group has been established by residents in Atherton to preserve the Gibfield site both for nature and future generations. The group also regularly campaign to protect these local green spaces.
This weekend, the team went out into the local community and filled around 10 large bags of rubbish which was collected during the nature walk.
The Gibfield Park greenbelt area between Atherton and Westhoughton in Wigan is an unmanaged wild space that currently functions as a local sanctuary for protected wildlife including skylarks, bats, deer, geese, brown hares, foxes, hedgehogs, owls and many wildflowers.
Gibfield Preservation Group’s work means that the area of natural beauty can be enjoyed by both humans and all forms of wildlife in a safe manner by ensuring that it is clean and litter free. Chair of the Gibfield Preservation Group Amanda Coleman said: “The footpaths are regularly used and provide an opportunity to get into nature which helps people’s mental and physical wellbeing. “It is devastating to think that there are plans being developed that would replace this area of nature with industrial buildings and a manufactured ‘country park’ on a small area of what is home to so many species. “We continue to call on developers and planners to rethink the plans and protect the wildlife that is being threatened by this development.”