Let’s work together to keep streets clean

It was music to Cllr Ashley Clarke’s ears – and so it should be to everyone’s ears. The Conservative was referring to the city council’s latest efforts to eliminate mess and graffiti from our streets. More tickets for litterbugs, vandals targeted and flytipping properly investigated. And what’s best about this action is that it is the direct consequence of the authority reacting to the message it has received from the people of Canterbury, Herne Bay, Whitstable and the villages.

They don’t want to live among it and councillors of all parties came together to support the council officers in working how best to tackle it.

There is no politics in keeping the district clean, there is just keeping the district clean.

And while the council is keeping up its end of the bargain, we can do our bit.

We can avoid littering in the first place. We can report messy areas. We can pick up the odd bit of rubbish and put it in the bin. We can – as some selfless souls do on a regular basis – take to their neighbourhoods with a binbag and a picker and just clean up.

And we can take part in the community litter-picks which are becoming increasingly frequent and increasingly popular around the district.

No one says it’s easy and it can be disheartening to see rubbish reappear from an area which had been cleared, but that’s why we should pick it up when we can.

We will be showing the fly-tippers and louts that we won’t stand for it.

A council and its population united in common purpose can and will succeed.

This will be a cleaner district.