Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£15K COST OF CLEANING UP CITY’S DRUGS FILTH
Ratepayers bill up by 50% in a year
THE cost of cleaning up after drug users has increased by more than 50%, it has emerged yesterday.
Since April, Belfast City Council has paid private contractors £14,600 to pick up items including syringes.
Figures obtained by the Mirror show in the financial year 2017/2018 ratepayers were left with a £9,262 bill to deal with the problem.
The increase in spending comes against a backdrop of growing concerns about drug use and particularly intravenous drug use.
Discarded syringes have appeared in a number of locations around the city centre.
This week one Mirror reader spotted syringes that appeared to have been prepared for drug use at Wellington Place just yards from City Hall.
A council spokeswoman said: “Drug use is a complex and deep societal issue requiring a meaningful partnership approach across agencies.
“Belfast City Council is committed to working with statutory, community and voluntary partners in reducing the impact of drug use and supporting vulnerable people and communities.”
Sources said areas such as public spaces and toilets in certain parts of the city have become hotspots for drug use.
It leaves planners with a headache over how appropriate it is to spend ratepayers’ money clearing away needles and other paraphernalia.
The issue of needle exchanges, where intravenous drug users can access sterile syringes, has become more prominent with some opposition to a planned expansion of the service in the city.
The Mirror reported earlier this year that Public Health Agency figures show in the last four years, the number of needle exchange visits by Belfast residents has gone up by 82%, from 7,551 visits in 2012 to 2013 to 13,733 visits in 2016 to 2017.
The Council also said in 2017/2018 three employees received skin pricks from used syringes/ needles while so far this year one staff member has received a graze.
Dirty needles carry the risk of lethal infections.
YESTERDAY