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Litter pickers’ plea to dog walkers
Cleaning up: Litter pickers Sheila Birkby, Tom Ibison, Stephanie Butters, Jackie Parker, Preston Council Litter Education Officer Anne Millne-Riley and resident Roy Bolton and good dog Millie.
Please bin your dog waste or take it home with you.
This is the plea from a group of village litter pickers in Goosnargh and Whittingham.
In just one week, the voluntary group, which scours the villages every Tuesday morning, found no less than 40 bags of waste left on an avenue regularly frequented by dog walkers.
But “The Avenue” as it is known locally, is where young people hang out too, and this band of volunteers now fears for the safety of those youngsters, as well as “vulnerable adults “ resident at nearby Crystal Hall.
Litter picker Stephanie Butters told The News that last Tuesday, February 5, they were astounded to pick up so many bags of waste on this stretch of “The Avenue” - approximately 150 yards from The Stag’s Head towards Crystal Hall.
She said: “We found 40 individual bags chucked all over and flung into the bushes, either black or white. But we also found crisp packets and cans, so youngsters are going there too.
“It is horrific, it really is.”
Then yesterday morning, the group found 14 bags within just 10 yards on “The Avenue”.
Stephanie stresses the group is “not on the war path” but simply wishes to appeal to those who are chucking the waste, to think again.
She added: “We are concerned about the health hazard because young people also go into that area.”
She said it must be the same people chucking the bags, as many are in exactly the same place.
She feels that if the dog owners are going as far as putting the waste into bags, then surely they can put it in a nearby bin, or take it home.
The nearest bin is very close to The Stag’s Head, next to the bus stop on Whittingham Lane, and there are others nearby.
Yesterday mroning, the group was accompanied by Preston Council litter education officer, Anne Millne-Riley, who not only delivered five signs appealing to dog owners to bag and bin dog poo and which have now been attached to lamposts in the vicinity, but also to witness the problem for herself.
“She said she had never seen anything like it,” said Stephanie, adding she now intends to return to the village to carry out some education about the problem.
This could involve getting dog owners together, maybe in the village hall, also visiting schools.
“The Avenue” was one of the old entrances into the former Whittingham Hospital and is not covered by Preston Council’s cleansing department, which empties bins elsewhere in the village weekly.
It is believed some dog owners may not be aware that waste bags can be placed in the normal litter bins.
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Weather for Longridge
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North west
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Heavy rain
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