Rochdale left cleaner as volunteers fill scores of rubbish bags as part of Keep Britain Tidy Campaign

Date published: 21 June 2021

The Rochdale borough has been left cleaner as scores of rubbish bags were filled with litter for the annual Keep Britain Tidy Campaign, which runs between 28 May and 13 June.

Community groups and enthusiastic volunteers across the borough organised successful litter picks, encouraging residents to keep their neighbourhoods free from litter and fly-tipping.

Fly-tipping and littering costs local authorities lots of money, in addition to being an eye-sore and creating pollution. Last year, local authorities throughout England dealt with 976,000 fly-tipping and littering incidents.

Milkstone and Deeplish councillors in partnership with local residents, young people and Rochdale Environmental Action Group (REAG) organised a litter pick event at Stoneyfield, Sparthbottoms and Broadfield Park on Saturday 12 June.

Ward councillor and former mayor Mohammed Zaman said: “Fly-tipping and littering is a key issue in our ward; we deal with several fly-tipping incidents every week. We are sick and tired of clearing up fly-tipping, day in, day out and we are determined to deal with it.”

REAG members, Christine Mathewson and Ghulam Rasul Shahzad OBE, added: “We regularly report fly-tipping and encourage residents to be more watchful and report these incidents.”

Former councillor Imtiaz Ahmed said: “It was good to see residents from the Osborne Street area, complementing our efforts and offering water, chocolates, fresh mango to volunteers taking part in the clean-up. We are very grateful to them for their hospitality.”

Councillors, residents and REAG thanked the environmental management team for their ongoing support. All participants were thanked for their support and contribution.

Spotland and Falinge’s clean-up for 2021 was organised by newly-elected councillor for Spotland and Falinge, Iram Faisal. She said: “It was great to see so many people coming out to help with the clean-up. We care about the area in which we live and we want it to look clean and tidy. There was a great community spirit and it was so good to see so many children taking part.

“Our area is looking so much brighter. I'm really proud of all the volunteers who turned up and worked so hard.”

Fellow ward councillor Faisal Rana added: "We were litter picking all day and removed bags and bags of rubbish. Tackling litter and removing fly-tipping is a big priority for Spotland and Falinge's local councillors.

“We wish people would take their litter home with them, but sadly some just throw it in the street. By involving the whole community in keeping our local area clean, we hope it will encourage others to act responsibly.”

Bags, gloves and litter-pickers were provided by Rochdale Council and the Spotland event was sponsored by Morrisons, which provided refreshments.

Emma Pedgrift, the supermarket's community champion said: “Morrisons loves to support great local initiatives like this; we are proud of Rochdale and want to put something back into the community.

“It's great to see so many people pulling together to improve their local neighbourhood.”