Litter

SABC is currently striving to drive out litter from this authority by education, enforcement and partnership working.

Education

The Council's Environmental Initiatives Officer in conjunction with a representative of the Shrewsbury Tidy group regularly attend schools within the borough to talk to children on environmental issues, including litter prevention and its effects on the environment.

In addition over 30 schools within the borough have now joined SABC s recycling scheme promoted by the Council's "Smart Bob" character.

Enforcement

SABC actively seeks to issue Fixed Penalty Notices of £50 for the offence of littering and since May 2003 Over 50 of these have been issued.

In addition SABC has also been successful in obtaining three prosecutions through the Magistrates courts following non payment of the Fixed Penalty Notice.

Signage has also been erected around the town centre to inform members of the public that SABC has adopted a policy of issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for the offence of littering

Outside agencies such as the Police and CCTV monitoring centre work alongside SABC in tackling this social problem.

Our actions are regularly reported on by the local media namely the Shrewsbury Chronicle, Shropshire Star, and this culminated in BBC Midlands Today filming our enforcement actions.

The media exposure that we have gained shows public support for our actions.

The use of Mobile CCTV is also currently being progressed with a view to enhance our enforcement actions.

Other Developments

Invaluable data has also been captured regarding the style, condition and location of all the litterbins within the town.

SABC has also engaged with the private and public sectors of the community to combat the problem of litter within Shrewsbury and exposure from this initiative has been on a national level from The Journal of the Public Services Network and by a presentation by the Public Amenities Manager to a national seminar.

The Tidy Shrewsbury Group

Overview

The Tidy Shrewsbury Group (the group) was formed by SABC's Environmental Initiatives Officer (EIO), early in 2002.  An inaugural meeting was called, and interested groups, plus individuals that had previously expressed an interest were invited.  In addition notice of the meeting was displayed in the local media.

The EIO chaired the preliminary meetings, although it was always the intention that the group would be community led.  After several formative months the group became more structured, and after listening to presentations from similar groups adopted an aim and objectives.

A Chairman in the shape of John Tancock was elected and the group invited the Earl of Bradford to be it's Patron, which he duly accepted, in addition he has generously provided the group with funds from his charitable trust.

The groups aim is; 'To conduct a campaign for as long as is deemed necessary, to assist the Local Authority and other organisations, who have a legal responsibility as regards litter problems, in the clearing of existing and future litter, and to educate the public with a view to getting them to dispose of materials appropriately, so that the materials do not become litter.

The core group meets quarterly, and holds the majority of meetings at the Guildhall as they continue to progress the formation of sub-groups in different wards of the borough.

As the group matured it became apparent that the structure should be to have 1 core group to concentrate and co-ordinate on borough-wide initiatives such as approaches to schools, public relations, new initiatives and policy.  It was decided that smaller sub-groups needed to be formed to feed into the core group.  These groups could concentrate their efforts in local areas, it was felt that more people would be encouraged to join if they could take positive action in their neighbourhood.

The core group has undertaken a number of high profile litter picks, has members who carry out visits to schools and undertake anti-litter talks and displays at events such as Shrewsbury Green Day.

A recent initiative has been to produce a range of eye catching anti-litter posters for display at secondary schools where typically approaches to visit the school to carry out anti-litter talks have been declined.

The core group will encourage and facilitate sub-groups to form.  The role that the sub-groups will play is to;

* Issue litter notices to the Public Amenities Department when necessary 
* Undertake voluntary litter picks in their area
* Undertake litter bin surveys

and other such duties of a similar nature.

A number of sub-groups have now been formed, these are operational in Sundorne, Harlescott, Meole, Radbrook and Copthorne.

The core group is growing in strength, support and credibility, and forging links with the Shrewsbury in Bloom Committee and promoting other related council initiatives such as 'Team Litter'.

Group Comment

The group exists to assist the Council in reducing and eliminating litter, dog waste and graffiti in the area of shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council. It tries to achieve this by organising litter picks, talking to young people and publicising the case for a tidier town and country. It provides a sounding board for the Council which has overall responsibility for enforcing the Litter Acts and for clearing rubbish from public areas.

Members of the group come from most parts of the area but all are welcome to become members and attend the quarterly meetings which are normally held in the Guildhall in the early evening. The group has a small budget. The Chairman is Ron Iremonger and the Secretary is Laura Morris who can be contacted on 01743 281000.

If you would like to join the group, if you have ideas to reduce litter, if you keep the area near your house clear of litter or do other things to discourage people from dropping litter, the group would love to hear from you.