Lancaster City Council joins local resident in urging others to take part in the Great British Spring Clean

Kevin Smith has been pulling out weeds and binning the litter by his Primrose Street home in Morecambe for the past five years.

“It makes it a nice place to be”, says Kevin, who was first spurred into sprucing up the alleyways so he could play football with his son, also called Kevin.

“I wanted to make it clean so there was no dog dirt, broken glass or rubbish, to make it a better place to live and so that me and my son could play football down there.

“It makes the neighbours happy, they appreciate it, which is nice and the thanks is better than being paid!

“The council are doing their bit to keep the area clean, but everyone has a responsibility, and we should all take pride in our community.”

He believes that people are more likely to drop litter in already littered or unkempt areas and so urged others to get out into their community and do what they could – from picking up a few plastic bottles off the kerb side to pulling out a few weeds.

“Just 5 minutes every now and then makes a lot of difference, and it’s nice as it gets you out talking to your neighbours too,” added Kevin.

Community groups across the district will be pooling their cleaning efforts between March 25 and April 10, as part of Keep Britain Tidy’s annual Great British Spring Clean.

The nationwide annual litter picking event is once again being supported by Lancaster City Council, which is encouraging people to take part by attending a group clean or pledging to do their own litter pick.

Leader of Lancaster City Council, councillor Caroline Jackson, said: “We are calling upon our community - be heroes to help improve the precious environment on our doorsteps, because every act to protect the environment, no matter how small, makes a difference.

“Mr Smith has done an amazing job giving up his time over the past five years to enhance his local community and we applaud his efforts, and that of those other people across the district who are doing their bit too.

“During the Great British Spring Clean, we are urging more people to get involved whether it is picking up a few pieces of rubbish on their way to work or while walking on the beach to taking part in organised group events.”

A community litter pick will take place starting from Morecambe’s Alexandra Park on March 26 between 11am and 2pm. Friends of Dorrington Woods will host one on April 2 between 2pm - 4pm and The Friends of Ryelands Park is hosting one on April 10 meeting at 1.30pm.

Lancaster City Council can provide equipment and guidance to support individuals or groups who want to host their own litter pick, and will collect the rubbish at the end of the day. For more information visit www.lancaster.gov.uk/community-cleanups Alternatively you can email [email protected] and someone will get back to you with more details.