We have some of the UK's busiest railways (and worst operators) on the Thameslink route. We have some of the most interesting churches, such as St Pauls on the Ridgeway in Mill Hill. We have beautiful parks and open spaces. We also have allowed some of our high St's to rot and become strewn with litter.
Yesterday, I was disgusted with the state of Mill Hill park. It was strewn with litter. Whilst it is the responsibility of the council to clear such mess up, a task they seem to be failing miserably to do, it is a responsibility of all of us to clear up our own mess. Does any of us really want our neighbourhood to resemble a pigsty?
It breaks my heart to see litter strewn next to empty bins. Anyway I have a heartfelt plea to everyone. Please can you pick up your mess and put it in the bin. And maybe you can also do what I did and spend two minutes putting other people's mess in the bin as well. I remember back in the 1960's when St Josephs college in Mill Hill used to hold annual garden fetes. At the end, there was a prize for the child who collected most rubbish. Maybe the council could organise a similar scheme in our parks and open spaces. We have a great community, let's treat it with the respect it deserves.
3 comments:
My local park has also recently been plagued by litter, and bins spewing over with the stuff. Some believe the bins are not being emptied as fast as they should be, for whatever reason. Fastened to these are horrible, ugly laminated notices informing residents: 'It's your park, keep it green'. Along with this we are seeing projects publicised by council PR organising litter picks by residents. It might sound very public spirited: the truth is this appears to be part of their plot to drop responsibility and funding for public services, including our parks and greenspaces.
We pay for our parks to be looked after, but new policy is to incrementally make all parks 'self funding' and the responsibility of local residents, while the council carries on happily taking our taxes and handing them over to Capita, or wasting it on consultant fees, and telling us they have no money.
Another part of their strategy can be seen in my local park, Victoria Park in Finchley, where they have been trying to sell part of the park to developers. One site has already been flogged off, despite covenants that should protect it, and there are plans to impose an income generating car park, as well as sell off another site by the main entrance. This should strike fear in the hears of all of us who care about the future of our parks and greenspaces.
No one should be so selfish and lazy as to drop litter in the park, but there is a larger story we all need to be aware of.
Yes, I agree with much of what you say, but yesterday there were empty bins and rubbish strewn everywhere. I suspect that the lack of civic pride is not helped by our zombie council
Don't worry!
The Barnet Times reports this morning:
"The future of Barnet’s street services could be drastically improved as council seeks to make 'significant savings'.
"Chairman of environment committee Cllr Dean Cohen said: 'Our street scene services are popular with our residents, but we need to recycle more, improve our green spaces and make our town centres clean, attractive and inviting to visitors.'
Phew, that's a relief.
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