‘Name and shame litter-bugs’ suggests council

USING CCTV footage to identify and name and shame litter-bugs, and appealing to shopkeepers to do more to keep their frontages free of litter, are just two of the ideas from the town council for tackling littering in the town.

Thame District Councillor, Jeannette Matelot Green sets a good example posting her litter

At a meeting of the town council on Tuesday (19/01),Cllr Peter Lambert said that he had noticed that the drivers that race up and down the high street causing a noise nuisance have started dumping rubbish out of their car windows. “These people should be named and shamed,” he said. But he thought a more ‘fun’ approach could be made to primary school pupils, perhaps using a cartoon version of Thame’s Street Cleaner, Alan Tipping (described as ‘a local hero’ by Cllr Linda Emery), to encourage them not to drop litter.

Cllr Lambert went on to say: “This council is paying £14,000 a year for CCTV. We should be able to ask the camera controllers to take stills of offenders which can use to ‘name and shame’.”

Misplaced dog bins

On the subject of dog bins in Elms Park, he told councillors that dog-walkers have to walk across an often muddy field to get to them, and suggested that the bins could be relocated to the entrances and exits of the park.

Messy bin men

Cllr Mike Deacock said that a strongly-worded letter should be sent to the bin lorry contractor about bin collectors who drop rubbish all over the road in some areas and don’t clean it up, causing the litter to then be blown into hedges.

Civic Pride

Cllr Helena Fickling said that there needed to be a public awareness campaign to encourage people not to drop litter in the first place, and to pick it up if they see some. “It should be a matter of civic pride,” she said.

Businesses need to clean up their act

Councillors praised the owner of the Kebab van in the Upper High Street, who goes round every night and picks up every single piece of litter, whether or not it could have come from his customers. But Costa came in for particular criticism. The Mayor, Nichola Dixon, said: “It’s always a mess outside there with cardboard coffee cups and cigarette ends strewn around the pavement area. Businesses need to take more responsibility for keeping their own frontages clean and tidy.”

Make law-breakers clean up

Other ideas put forward by councillors included using the ‘Community Pay Back Scheme’ which uses offenders sentenced to Community Service to clean up litter, and asking the PCSOs to have friendly chats with local people about being litter-aware, as they go on their rounds.

Cllr Bob Austin said that he thought an efficient way of dealing with the problem would be to focus efforts in particular areas, which might then spread the word to other parts of the town.

What next?

All the various suggestion made will be forwarded to the Open Spaces Working Group, which includes members of the public as well as some councillors.