A letter from Councillors Stewart Swinburn, Ron Shepherd and Callum Procter about littering on Cleethorpes beach:
Many people in North East Lincolnshire take pride in the place they live and want our resort to be a clean, green, and tidy place for everyone to enjoy.
Sadly, a small number of people are not being fair and ruining our beautiful coastline for others.
In recent weeks, as lockdown has started to ease, we have experienced high levels of litter being left across the borough, particularly on Cleethorpes beach. This has included glass bottles, cans, leftover picnics, takeaway wrappings, used barbecues and nappies. This has placed tremendous pressure on an already busy service and poses a risk to wildlife and sea life. It is totally unacceptable and a very sorry sight to see in our resort.
We would like to extend our thanks to those making a difference and helping to clear up other people’s mess – particularly the two families who recently cleaned up a section of the North Promenade, which was publicised in the local media. It is great to see local people taking steps to make a difference and your litter picking efforts are very much appreciated by everyone at the council. We would like to thank these families and hope to meet with them, socially distanced, to show our thanks.
A daily clean of the beach starts at 6am and takes place between Wonderland in the north and Pleasure Island at the southern end of the resort. This involves making sure all bins are emptied and picking up litter during the day. Bins are emptied twice a day and are currently sprayed with anti-bacterial spray due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The beach is raked daily to prevent litter being drawn back into the Humber. If it is too busy to continue raking, staff will park up and litter pick instead. Our street cleansing team can collect up to four tonnes of rubbish in a single day through emptying bins and litter picking.
As a council we can only do so much. It is everyone’s responsibility to keep our borough clean and tidy.
We understand people want to make the most of the warm weather and enjoy a day out in the resort, but you must be responsible with your litter and respect our environment.
Enforcement officers returned in June and are patrolling busy areas including Cleethorpes beach and will issue fixed penalty tickets to those littering. In the last two weeks since restarting patrols, 26 people have been fined for littering and 20 have been fined for littering from their vehicle.
There are more than 50 litter bins along Cleethorpes Promenade, so there’s no excuse to leave rubbish on the beach. Please put your rubbish in a bin. If a bin is full, then take your rubbish home with you, or alternatively, you could try to reduce your waste by bringing reusable alternatives.
We actively encourage people to recycle, but please do not put your rubbish into a plastic bag and discard of this in the recycling bin as it contaminates the recycling.
Thank you to the majority of people who keep our borough clean and tidy. Stay safe and continue to enjoy our lovely resort.
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