Condemn litter louts, not us!

After row over litter-pick veto on safety grounds, council responds to critics:

Council bosses who were branded “jobsworths” after banning a village litter pick say the criticism should be directed elsewhere.

The Gazette last week revealed how the community clear-up in Wickhambreaux was ruled too dangerousby health and safety officers because of a lack of pavements in the village.

Its organiser, Charlie Porter, 72, was among those to decry the decision, labelling it “ridiculous” and “out of proportion”.

But council chiefs this week hit back at opponents, claiming the real villains are those who discard rubbish in the first place.

Deputy chief executive Velia Coffey said: “Litter picks would not be needed if people did not drop litter or throw it out of their car windows.

“They are the ones who deserve our ire.

“We echo the sentiments contained in a recent Gazette Comment that said ‘the world is divided into two types of people: those who create litter, nuisance, inconvenience, headaches for others and those who clean up after them’.

“We have supported dozens of litter picks in recent months, including the one featured 22 pages later in the same edition of the paper and those the Gazette published at the start of the month.

“This time around we had genuine concerns about keeping people safe on a road where cars have been known to ignore the speed limit and there are parked cars to hide litter pickers from view.”

Mrs Coffey says the decision to ban the clear-up will now be reviewed in light of the widespread criticism it attracted.

But the Wickhambreaux saga is not the first time the council has riled litter pickers.

Retired lecturer Mike Armstrong, of Queens Avenue, Canterbury, informed the authority he was collecting rubbish from roads and footpaths at the entrances to Hambrook Marshes in Wincheap.

“I was sent a load of what we used to call bumf, that I had to agree to and sign before I received the council’s official blessing,” the 81-year-old said.

“I’m afraid I just sent it all back, assuring them that as an octogenarian volunteer, who had survived the bombing in the last war, I was quite capable of being responsible for my own actions.”

What do you think? Email kentishgazette@thekmgroup. co.uk or write to Gazette House, 5-8 Boorman Way, Wraik Hill, Whitstable, CT5 3SE.