Sad array of litter at park and riverside

For over a year my wife and I have been litter picking in the Boulters Lock car park, which is very close to our home.

I often enlist the help of my grandchildren in this, but of course their help was prevented by the COVID-19 impacts. Now they are back as part of our ‘bubble’, and it was my seven-year-old grandson, Fred, who noted the new rubbish we are seeing.

The bottles, cans, food rubbish and, sadly, the drug paraphernalia are still there of course but Fred’s concern was the amount of wet wipes and discarded face coverings we are now finding.

Clearly visitors to the Riverside enjoy their leisurely walks, return to cars, sensibly sanitise hands and remove masks but then just drop the debris by the side of the car. Can I appeal to them to take the rubbish home please?

The newly weeded and re-planted flower beds at Boulters Lock are the work of our Community Interest Company members, who since January 2020 have provided all the labour involved and most of the new plants, at no cost to the taxpayer.

The flowerbeds and riverbank from Lock Avenue to Boulters Lock belong to either RBWM council or the Environment Agency, neither of whom had the resources or, apparently, the interest in maintaining the riverside walk and it had reached sorry state. I hope all of our riverside visitors enjoy the flower beds as now exist and that they enhance their visits to the riverside.

Help us keep the riverside clean and tidy – please take your rubbish home.

MG (MICK) JARVIS Chairman, Boulters Riverside CIC