New campaign against litter

Mr David Glover from Wealden Council, who attended the annual town meeting at the Civic Centre, said working practices were changing to allow more flexibility with resources being directed to areas where they were most needed.

He said the council had 13 members of staff to cover the whole district. Most litter problems were within the five main towns '“ and in Uckfield it was cleaned up daily before 8am '“ but there were significant problems along rural roads.

In the past litter clearance had been done purely in terms of frequency, so that estate roads might be visited by the litter team and swept every 12 weeks but what often happened was they were working in particular streets where there was no litter to pick up.

The idea now was to set up teams that could respond to need. They still had to finalise how to identify problem areas.

Member of the public Mr John McGuckin said he walked his two dogs daily around the Rocks Park and West Park estates and not only was there a lot of litter but there were also leaves and grass cuttings that had been there for at least six months. 'Does nobody sweep or clean streets these days?' he asked. Mr Glover said he would arrange for that problem to be dealt with.

Mrs Dorothy Sparks was concerned about an overflowing litter bin in Hempstead Road where a footpath from the community college joined the road. She asked whether it could be emptied more often and Mr Glover said the situation there could be monitored.

Mrs Sparks also asked about the Luxford car park on a Sunday morning. She said the car park was cleaned up in the morning but then was left in a mess again after the waste skips moved on.

Mr Glover said the county council contractor responsible for the skips was also responsible for clearing up when they moved on.

Mayor Cllr Barrie Murray introduced the litter subject by referring to an article in the Sussex Express about rubbish building up behind four High Street shops, Fludes, Star of Bengal, Private Eye Opticians and Wine Rack.

He took photos round to the four shops and was delighted when three of them, excluding Wine Rack, agreed to pay a man to clear the area. 'It took a whole day and he has cleared it up impeccably' said Cllr Murray.