Take Pride in Worcester!
City Council joins forces with Worcester News, VisitWorcester, community groups and local businesses to launch summer-long clean up campaign
Worcester City Council is today launching Take Pride in Worcester – a campaign to encourage both local people and visitors to take pride in the city and to work together to reduce litter and to improve Worcester’s overall appearance.
Approximately 50 tonnes of litter is collected by the City Council every year from streets and open spaces in Worcester. The annual clean up cost for this service alone is currently just under £1.25 million.
“In recent years Worcester has rightly been recognised as one of the cleaner cities in the UK, but it’s time for us all to play our part if we want our city to improve further,” says Simon Geraghty, Leader of Worcester City Council.
“The City Council does its best to keep Worcester looking clean and tidy, but the bill for this service is ultimately paid for by local council tax payers. Littering, petty vandalism and graffiti cost us all dearly and at a time of severe financial restraint the money spent on sorting out the mess could be put to better use. Only by working together and us all taking more pride in our city, can we keep the costs down and ensure that Worcester really achieves its full potential.”
The Worcester News is a joint partner in Take Pride in Worcester, and will be covering the campaign over the summer.
Editor Kevin Ward said: "It is all too easy to criticise the council if our streets are strewn with litter. But the reality is it is not the council that creates the mess, it is a significant minority of Worcester's citizens.
"This campaign is aimed at getting local people to show their pride in Worcester by helping to keep their communities clean and tidy.
"It is easy to complain about problems like litter. Now we're giving people the chance to do something about it.
"The Worcester News is delighted to support this campaign throughout the summer. We will be encouraging our readers to do all they can to help keep the city litter free - and reporting on their efforts."
Worcester News is encouraging its readers to phone in and report local grot spots to the City Council, which has committed to clean up reported areas within two working days [1] throughout the summer.
The City Council will also support residents and community groups who want to organise their own local clean ups, by supplying a street sweeper, bin bags and high visibility jackets. All bags of litter picked up will be collected by the City Council.
Georgia Smith, Head of VisitWorcester, says keeping the city pristine is vital to tourism:
"We are backing the new Worcester City Council anti-litter campaign because it's really important for everyone that the city looks its best. Wouldn't it be wonderful if, instead of spending so much money on cleaning up litter, we could do things to make the city even more attractive? We urge all residents, businesses and visitors to do their bit to take care of the city and not create any litter."
To report a grot spot or to find out more about arranging a community clean up in your area, please call us on 01905 722101.
[1] as long as the grot spot is not on private land (in which case the land owner will be contacted).
