Sorry state of Selby's 'disgraceful' littered verges

Litter, tossed from passing cars by careless motorists, is making the district look unloved and District hygiene bosses are not not doing enough to clear the unsightly trash away claims Cllr Steve Shaw-Wright (Lab, Selby North).

The opposition member laid into the administration's enforcement against littering and called on the Council to act to improve their current level of service in the area.

Cllr Shaw-Wright told us, "Despite having standards to meet I feel that the Tory run council is letting the side down in keeping the grass verges clean and tidy across the district. I cannot account for all the roads and footpaths across the area but those I travel on regularly, are in a terrible state – especially the roads leading out of the District in to South Yorkshire and the East Riding. There doesn't seem to be a square yard of grass verge that is not litter strewn. 

"I am aware that most of the litter on the roadside verges comes from passing cars and originates from fast food outlets etc. and more should be done to educate motorists to take their litter home.

"I know that many Officers of the council do a really good job in monitoring the service and responding quickly to complaints, but it’s up to the public to help them by reporting grubby areas and if the public know who’s responsible for littering to informing the council."

Responding to the councillor's claims, a Council spokesman said, "We have regular monitoring of roadside verges – this is done to set frequencies, not necessarily on particular times or days. People reporting issues to us is obviously key too, and if we’re made aware of particular problems then we can deal with these outside of the normal monitoring.

"The key issue is, of course, the fact that people are dropping litter rather than disposing of it in the right way."

Update: 19/02/2015 — We did contact Selby District Council's Leader, Cllr Mark Crane (Con, SDC Brayton), for comment prior to this article's publication. Unfortunately he hadn't been able to do so and so we published without his comment.

Has been in touch since and told us, "I wonder if Cllr Shaw Wright is aware that there is an election ahead? He has suddenly become aware of all sorts of problems that he didn’t see last year, could this be connected to May 7^th? I guess readers will make up their own minds.

"We have a contract with Amey who in general do a good job, however, we can certainly work with them and seek to do better and indeed I have asked them for a general tidy up."