Help us to clear up messy town centre

5:00pm Tuesday 3rd July 2012 in North Essex By James Calnan

Lion Walk manager Paul Bentham, officials from Colchester Council and town centre retailers launching the Love Where You Live campaign Lion Walk manager Paul Bentham, officials from Colchester Council and town centre retailers launching the Love Where You Live campaign

A CAMPAIGN has been launched to keep Colchester town centre clean.

Business leaders joined Colchester Council and the Keep Britain Tidy campaign at the town hall yesterday to launch Love Where You Live.

Council officers took a snapshot of the town centre’s levels of rubbish and graffiti, which will be compared to the amounts found at the end of July to see if the trial has been a success. The project is spearheaded by Paul Bentham, manager of Lion Walk Shopping Centre.

He will present the findings to the British Council of Shopping Centres, which will decide whether it should become a national campaign.

Mr Bentham gave the cleanliness of the town centre 5/10, and said visitors and businesses could do more to improve it.

He said: “I’ve seen worse, but I’ve seen an awful lot better. All it would take is for the public to play their part, by remembering not to drop litter. If everybody did that, we would have a much cleaner place to do our shopping and spend leisure time. The council must have 40 bins on the High Street.”

Schools, charities and community groups will hold street cleans during July, posters will be put up around the town and anyone spotted putting rubbish in a bin will be given a Love Where You Live sticker.

Derek Ashbee, manager of Culver Square shopping centre, said town centres must do their best to match the experiences offered to visitors to out-of-town shopping centres.

He said: “They’re generally traffic free, litter free and climate controlled. If we keep our towns clean and attractive, it’s got to be of benefit.”

Martin Hunt, councillor responsible for street and waste services, said: “Our work to deliver education will hopefully increase people’s respect and pride in their town.”

Will Quince, leader of Colchester Council’s Conservative group, said the town centre was not clean enough at the moment and praised businesses for driving the campaign. He said: “I think it’s excellent. This is a private sector-led initiative to tackle a real issue in the town.”

Comments (8)

5:10pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Sdapeze says...

Er. What do we pay our taxes for? Council pensions perhaps?
Er. What do we pay our taxes for? Council pensions perhaps? Sdapeze

5:39pm Tue 3 Jul 12

angryman!!! says...

Rather than give stickers to those that do put rubbish in the bins why not fine those that don't!
Also it's a cheek for culver sq to talk about this when I had rubbish after buying food from with the precinct I couldn't find a bin and asked the guy where they all where only to be told the management had decided to take them away!!!! No wonder the town is a tip!
Rather than give stickers to those that do put rubbish in the bins why not fine those that don't! Also it's a cheek for culver sq to talk about this when I had rubbish after buying food from with the precinct I couldn't find a bin and asked the guy where they all where only to be told the management had decided to take them away!!!! No wonder the town is a tip! angryman!!!

8:05pm Tue 3 Jul 12

jut1972 says...

I'd target smokers, they seem to think they have a god given right to fling cigarettes anywhere they like.

Good luck with the campaign, I noticed a sticker / QR code on a bin the other day and wondered what it was so a good bit of design by someone.
I'd target smokers, they seem to think they have a god given right to fling cigarettes anywhere they like. Good luck with the campaign, I noticed a sticker / QR code on a bin the other day and wondered what it was so a good bit of design by someone. jut1972

8:36pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Taj says...

Dont fine litter droppers,give them a community clean -up order and get them to do two hours litter picking
Dont fine litter droppers,give them a community clean -up order and get them to do two hours litter picking Taj

10:18pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Boris says...

Taj wrote:
Dont fine litter droppers,give them a community clean -up order and get them to do two hours litter picking
Fine them, and make them pick up litter as well.
[quote][p][bold]Taj[/bold] wrote: Dont fine litter droppers,give them a community clean -up order and get them to do two hours litter picking[/p][/quote]Fine them, and make them pick up litter as well. Boris

2:38am Wed 4 Jul 12

citycommuter says...

A great and very welcome initiative but sadly our Town Centre requires much more effort, input, access initiative and control from the authorities. We boast that it is the oldest recorded Town but in reality we do very little to preserve our heritage or culture and allow newcomers to display cheap gaudy business signs, graffiti, and litter our pavements with their tacky wares. We have the basic ingredients of a fine tourist attraction but fail miserably to deliver. We should follow the proud example of Williams & Griffin and the family businesses of the west end of Crouch Street.
A great and very welcome initiative but sadly our Town Centre requires much more effort, input, access initiative and control from the authorities. We boast that it is the oldest recorded Town but in reality we do very little to preserve our heritage or culture and allow newcomers to display cheap gaudy business signs, graffiti, and litter our pavements with their tacky wares. We have the basic ingredients of a fine tourist attraction but fail miserably to deliver. We should follow the proud example of Williams & Griffin and the family businesses of the west end of Crouch Street. citycommuter

9:03am Wed 4 Jul 12

wellnow says...

employ a few more street sweeper's.
employ a few more street sweeper's. wellnow

1:08pm Wed 4 Jul 12

julieee says...

@sdapeze perhaps if we dropped less litte we would need less cleaners and our council tax would go down?
@sdapeze perhaps if we dropped less litte we would need less cleaners and our council tax would go down? julieee

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