Quote of the week
Our reporter Nancy Connolly took an early morning walk around Bath with former TV and radio presenter Richard Wyatt to discuss the city’s ‘disgusting’ rubbish problem
Bath has become a really shabby place. I am speaking for myself, not as a guide, this is my own personal opinion. I take tourists around and I have to apologise to them all the time.
If anyone knows the streets of Bath it is Richard Wyatt. The former TV and radio presenter, who now runs Bath Newseum website, knows everyone as he is out and about on his bike every day gathering news about the city he now calls home.
He is also one of the Mayor of Bath’s corps of volunteer honorary guides and takes visitors on free walking tours every week, so he witnesses the litter problem daily.
Richard said: “It is absolutely disgusting, I feel ashamed, we are a World Heritage city and our streets are filthy, Bath has become a really shabby place.
“I am speaking for myself, not as a guide, this is my own personal opinion.
“I take tourists around and I have to apologise to them all the time.
“The worst and ugliest street I think is Westgate Street.
“Have you walked down there first thing in the morning?
“It is filthy, there is rubbish strewn everywhere, the pavements are awful, vans and lorries have to mount the pavement to get through.
“This is just two minutes’ walk from the Roman Baths and Abbey and it is disgusting.
“I know it is not all the council’s
fault and they are short of money, but there must be some way of improving this situation, it is really bad.
“We start off our tours at the wonderful Roman Baths and I feel really proud to show it off, but then I have to take visitors down the back streets through Westgate Street to Sawclose, another eyesore, and I feel so embarrassed.
“It is filthy, there is litter everywhere and the new Sawclose development is like a bus station, horrible seats, plastic plants, right opposite our wonderful Theatre Royal, it is just an embarrassment.
“I love Bath, I love living here but we have to get it sorted, we have to clean up our act if we are to attract visitors.
“We rely on tourists bringing in massive business and income to the city but if we don’t keep our streets clean they will just stop coming, simple as that.
“I am on the ground and I see first hand the reaction.
“They come here looking to find out about our wonderful Georgian architecture and Roman history and spring baths and all they can see is rubbish and litter about the place, and the pavements and roads are covered in seagull droppings, something really needs to be done. Rubbish collection in Bath has become very complicated, there is household rubbish, traders’ rubbish and recycling and there seems to be lots of different companies doing different things, people are confused.
“I think it would help if people didn’t put their rubbish out overnight as this causes a huge problem. If you walk around the city at 6am you will see for yourself.
“The B&NES cleaners do a wonderful job but there is only so much they can do, people will have to start changing their behaviour and be more careful with their rubbish.
“Bath BID also do a great job but it’s just not enough, I think we should consider putting on a tourist tax like they do in most cities and this could go towards cleaning our streets,” he said.
World Heritage manager for B&NES Tony Crouch agrees.
He said: “I think a tourist tax is a great idea for Bath.
“We are lobbying central government to get permission to place a £1 tax on tourists visiting attractions.
“It is only a small amount but 50 per cent of that would raise £380,000 a year which could go towards cleaning the streets, it is not a lot to ask,” he said.
During our walkabout we met several council cleaners doing their early morning rounds.
One of them, a van driver, said he collected nearly three tonnes of
rubbish in two hours from 6am. They collect tonnes every day. He said: “There is so much rubbish every morning when I come on duty at 6am, there is rubbish everywhere - people just leave their bags out then the seagulls attack.
“When we come in first thing you would not believe the mess. Sunday morning is the worst, there is just rubbish everywhere, takeaway food, beer cans, cigarette butts, cartons, food, drink and all sorts of rubbish.
“Instead of putting the rubbish in the bins people just throw it on the streets for us to pick up.
“We are out and about all the time, there are the street sweepers and cleaners then I come and pick it all up in the van and take it to the tip, there are tonnes of it every day.
“We do our very best to keep the streets of Bath clean but it is a constant battle,” he said.
Restaurants and bars have a lot of refuse and some of them leave bags of rubbish and recycling overnight which causes huge problems in the morning after the seagulls have feasted on them.
Rosario Bavetta from Rosarios cafe in Northumberland Place says Bath BID are doing a fantastic job to improve the litter situation.
He said: “They are fantastic, if I call them to complain about rubbish on the street or near the cafe they come straight away and clean it up, they are really making a difference.
“I think the main problem is students living in the city.
“They are gone now for the summer and you can see the difference.
“We have students living above our business and they just leave their rubbish on the street, they don’t seem to care, and they don’t use the special seagull proof bags.
“In the morning the litter is all strewn about the streets, it is terrible.
“I have just come back from Stratford on Avon, another tourist city, and it is absolutely spotless, you can really notice the difference.
“I know they don’t have the seagull problem like we have but they are getting something right, we should look at how they do it.
“Bath BID and the council are doing their best but people need to be more careful.
“At the cafe we don’t put our rubbish out until just before the bins are collected, it is up to us all to find out what time our bins will be collected and try not to leave them out overnight,” he said.
The early morning walkabout with Richard was a real eyeopener.
In Sawclose and Kingsmead Square there were bags everywhere, outside the restaurants, on the streets and the birds and seagulls were having a feast, with many of the bags burst open and food and containers all over the streets.
Milsom Street is another eyesore in the early morning.
The council cleaners really do have a tough job on their hands when you see the filth and rubbish they face day in day out and still the problem persists.
Richard said: “We can’t keep blaming the seagulls. It is our behaviour which attracts them.
“They are intelligent birds, they know there are rich pickings in Bath. Why would they fly out 30 miles to sea to catch a fish when they can eat pizza in Bath?
“We really have to change our behaviour and we all have to get behind the problem.
“It is our city, it is beautiful in places but it is becoming so tired, shabby and dirty.
“We have to start looking after it. “Bath is a wonderful place to live but people are ruining it and everyone remarks on the amount of litter and rubbish, we have to do more than we are doing now, it really is a mess,” he said.