Residents '˜should not depend on council to clear litter' says Milton Keynes councillor

She believes it is wrong for residents to only depend on Milton Keynes Council to clean up areas after litter has been dropped.

She said: “We need to change peoples’ approach. We need to persuade people to stop dropping litter.

“I have been able to donate £800 of my ward grant to help the cleaning up of the local area I represent, particularly in picking up litter.

“The scheme is being run by Shenley Church End Parish where they are engaging volunteers and community groups to pick up litter in the area.

“It is great that Brownies and other community groups are given the loan of equipment and also given a small contribution in money to their group funds.

“The idea is to clean up, bring the problems caused by litter to the attention of a wider group and so reduce litter and future litter problems.”

Councillor Martin Gowans added: “Zoe is right, we need to change peoples’ behaviour.

“Funding is so tight due to Government cuts that we have had to find £400,000 from savings to stop the refuse collection service going to twice monthly.

“If we could stop people littering our community, the council could reduce its costs and communities would benefit from being cleaner.”

Cllr Nolan concluded: “I was pleased to use £800 pounds of my ward budget to support groups at the forefront of tackling the local litter problem.

“They have my total support and praise. Let’s work together keep local areas litter free.”