Extra staff to help clean up Rochdale

Litter pick: Rochdale Township chairman Councillor William Hobhouse with June Schofield from the Whitworth Road Community Association.

Two new enforcement wardens are to start work in Rochdale after the public said they wanted more action against people who drop litter in the street.

Rochdale Township is funding the extra dedicated resource as part of the commitment to cleaning up streets and getting tough on people who choose to drop litter rather than use a bin or take their rubbish home.

It is hoped that the new wardens will be in place later in the summer and will act as a deterrent so that people think twice about dropping their rubbish. They will work throughout the whole of the township area.

Councillor William Hobhouse, chairman of the Rochdale Township, said: “This shows that we are serious about tackling litter across all the wards of Rochdale. If you drop rubbish in the street there’ll be a better chance you’ll be caught and fined. We want to see more people taking responsibility for their actions and helping to make their neighbourhood cleaner."

At recent area forums, members of the public have said they wanted more done to create cleaner local environments. As well as the extra enforcement officers, proposals are currently being looked at for each ward in the borough to have their own dedicated street cleaner.

Councillor Hobhouse added: “This is real democracy in action. Local people told us that they thought there needed to be more resources put into tackling litter and cleaning up their area, so that’s exactly what we’re doing. We want to help people to have pride in where they live and making communities cleaner and greener helps to do that. We’re also very keen to let people have a say in how money is spent in their neighbourhood – this scheme is a perfect example of how we’ve responded to the concerns of local people.”