PEOPLE in Bradford need to take more pride in their areas rather than rely on Council staff to repeatedly clear litter – a committee has been told.
The claim came during a discussion about Bradford Council’s street cleaning services at the Bradford West Area Committee.
Catherine Smith, from the Parks and Cleansing Service, said there was a danger people relied on the Council to clean up any litter or fly-tipping rather than looking at their own responsibilities.
She was responding to Manningham Councillor Muhammed Ali Islam (Your Bradford Independent Group), who had raised concerns that residents were sometimes let down by the cleansing services.
He said: “Residents are being told to clean their own streets, when in reality this is a service they should expect from the Council.”
Fly-tipping in West Bowling (Image: T&A)
Mrs Smith said: “The Council aren’t going and tipping litter on the streets. We don’t go and fly-tip.
“We need to start changing behaviours. It is not just about picking people’s litter up, it is about changing the behaviour of people and the standards they expect.
“It is not just about expecting the council to come and clean your waste up all the time. People need to be responsible for themselves and not break the law by dropping litter.”
She said communities also need to take ownership for-fly tipping. She told members: “People need to take more pride in their areas.
“I don’t believe most people travel two miles to fly-tip – it is often being done by people in the locality.
“Communities need to take ownership, only then will we be able to tackle the issue. The message we need to get out is that residents need to take ownership of their areas.”
A similar message had been given to the Bradford Wellbeing Board a few days earlier.
Members had received a report from the Bradford Safer Communities Partnership on ways to improve the district. The report said the communities that are “most resilient to crime” are ones that have an “element of self policing.”
When asked what this meant, Michael Churley, neighbourhood manager, said: “There are certain parts of the district where people will see litter on the ground and be aggravated by it.
“In other areas, the tolerance threshold is different. The question is how do we support communities to develop a culture where crime is less tolerable.”