Tidy Our Town: Volunteer praises ‘proactive’ Reform cabinet member and hopes WNC don’t face ‘uphill struggle’

Volunteer Mark Watson said that Councillor Nigel Stansfield, the new cabinet member for environment, recycling and waste, reached out to the Northants Litter Wombles and organised a three-hour meeting to discuss the issues of littering and fly tipping.

Mark explained that as Cllr Stansfield lives in an area prone to these issues and has been a litter picker himself for a few years, there was a greater understanding of the problems at hand.

The Womble said Cllr Stansfield was willing to spend time discussing this with them and that he was “much more engaged than his predecessors”.

Enforcement, education, the Deposit Return Scheme trial, placing bins in the right places, and trolley dumping were all hot topics of conversation, and Cllr Stansfield has since been on a litter pick with the Northants Litter Wombles in Lumbertubs.

“He will be taking a much more proactive and firm approach with contractors,” said Mark, who reiterated that the current removal of fly tips is “inefficient” as others are being driven past and left to fester.

Though the Northants Litter Wombles remain grateful that the former Conservative WNC removed their purple bags of litter, Mark does not believe they moved much further forward than that during their final two years in power.

“It feels like we took one-and-a-half steps forward and one step back,” said Mark, who went on to share what the Northants Litter Wombles would like to see moving forward.

He said: “We still believe the Deposit Return Scheme is a real gamechanger. It is due to be rolled out nationally in October 2027 and our trial is still ongoing. Around 250 items are recycled a month at the University of Northampton.”

Mark explained that the Wombles did not receive any support from the former WNC on the introduction of the trial, and would like this to change with the new administration.

The volunteers would also like to see greater enforcement and prosecution, and for WNC to take a look at other councils leading by example with a zero tolerance approach.

More impactful education, minimising the dumping of trolleys, and ensuring bins are in the right places are all of great importance too – as rubbish drives away people and investment, and negatively impacts wellbeing and the economy, says Mark.

“There’s a lot of work to do and we hope they will be inclined to do more,” said Mark. “People and contractors have to deliver what the Council wants and if that’s not working properly, it’s going to be an uphill struggle.

“It’s so easy for the people littering and fly tipping to do it and get away with it, but there are obstacles for volunteers trying to make things better. The culture needs to change.”

If you would like to get involved in the Tidy Our Town campaign, established in collaboration with the Northants Litter Wombles, email [email protected].

To get involved and find out more, you can join the Northants Litter Wombles Facebook page here.