Patrols to increase after litter at major park
Patrols around Shrewsbury’s Quarry will be extended into the evening after more than four times the usual amount of litter was collected in the park last week.
Police patrols have also been stepped up and youth workers deployed in an effort to stem the flow of rubbish being left behind by thoughtless litter louts.
A combination of the scorching weather and easing of lockdown restrictions has seen thousands flock to the park over the last few weeks, with Shrewsbury Town Council staff and volunteers left to deal with the aftermath.
At a meeting on Monday, councillors praised the efforts of those keeping the town tidy and said more needed to be done to get to the root of the problem.
Town clerk Helen Ball said: “We have got a few litter hot spots, these are in the countryside, in the Quarry and in some of our recreation grounds.
“Last week we emptied twenty-eight 1,100 bulk bins from the Quarry, when on a usual summer week we would normally empty about six, so the volume of litter is huge.
“These areas are also seeing anti-social behaviour so police are aware and we are feeding into their patrols, and we have got our youth outreach team who are going out and about in the same locations talking to young people.
“We have a lot of volunteers who are helping us and we provide them with bags, litter pickers and PPE to be able to do it safely. Our heart goes out to them, they have done a fantastic job and continue to do so.”
Councillor Jane Mackenzie, who has been running litter picks at the Quarry for the last four Saturdays with her charity Share, said: “We have had a really good response to this, much more than I thought.
“The first week we had over 35 people come and we ran out of litter pickers.
“There is a huge appetite among people who live in the town to keep the Quarry looking good.
“We have picked up bags and bags of rubbish, all sorts of things you don’t really want to know about.
“We are working with Yanis (the park warden) and he made a couple of points. He said it is just him who patrols the Quarry and he finishes around tea time, but a lot of litter is dropped in the evening, particularly alcohol litter.”
The town council’s operations manager Gary Farmer said the volunteer effort had been invaluable and added that measures were being taken to prepare for an anticipated spike in anti-social behaviour when many pubs and other businesses open on the weekend.
“Without the volunteers’ help the staff would have just been swamped on a daily basis,” he said.
“The staff really appreciate these groups that have helped.
“The parks patrolman will be working later from this weekend when when lockdown rules change. He will be on duty until 7.30pm, so that might help with some of the litter problems we have encountered.”
