Tidy Our Town: Womble left ‘disheartened and disappointed’ at concerning state of litter hotspot

Alison McClean first started litter picking in the summer of 2021, before officially joining the Litter Wombles around three months later in September.

She regularly speaks out as part of the Chronicle & Echo’s ongoing Tidy Our Town campaign, and Abington is the latest area of concern.

A group pick was hosted in the area of Abington Avenue, Lea Road and Abington Grove last Friday (May 10) after an unhappy resident called on the Litter Wombles to help her tackle it.

“It’s really disheartening and disappointing that it’s an ongoing issue,” said Alison. “Some residents cope with it and are happy with the status quo of stepping over fly tipping. They brazenly ignore it.”

Eight volunteers, including three residents who actively pick litter, took to the streets on Friday to make a positive impact.

Talking about the concerned resident who reached out, Alison said: “She lives in an area that is constantly fly tipped. It’s depressing and that’s her home.”

Even on Friday, a resident left their home and added a bag on top of a growing fly tip while the Wombles were standing nearby. The resident said it had been there for more than a week, but decided to add to it in the presence of the hard-working litter pickers.

Residents who put out their rubbish days in advance of bin collection day contribute to litter being blown away, flies and vermin being attracted, and cats and foxes attacking the bin bags.

“It’s a cycle that needs to be broken,” said Alison, who has also taken the opportunity to speak to people in homes of multiple occupancy (HMOs) in the area.

She added: “They want to do the right thing but there’s not enough bin space from landlords. With nowhere to store bins, they’re forced to put them outside.”

Alison and the Wombles from the Abington area would like to see enforcement in place, with wardens visiting the area to hand out fines.

“Signs and bags with stickers saying they are being investigated are ineffective,” said Alison. “Where’s the deterrent?”

Back in March, the dedicated Womble went along to a well-attended residents meeting about the Abington and Kingsley areas at Broadmead Community Centre – which Alison says evoked a “great deal of anger”.

She hopes the local councillors will feed back at the upcoming meeting this Saturday (May 18).

“People were raising issues of rats, fly tipping and the general state of the place,” she said. “The filthiness brings down an area and with little street cleaning, people keep adding to it.

“We’re there because we care about the town, but it shouldn’t be left to volunteers and residents who invest in looking after their homes. We don’t want to live like this.”

Alison advises people to use the new West Northamptonshire Council app, which is home to information on reporting fly tips and where purple bags need collecting from, and when bin collection days are.

She described the app as a “one stop shop” and a good option for those invested in tackling litter, particularly as the bags picked on Friday were collected within 20 minutes of being reported online.

If you would like to get involved in the Tidy Our Town campaign, established in collaboration with the Northants Litter Wombles, email [email protected].