Published at 12:28, Friday, 22 June 2012

CUMBRIA has some of the UK’s best scenery, and its beautiful landscapes are a major attraction, not just for visitors, but for recruiting into the area.

Many who choose to live, work and play in the county, including on Britain’s Energy Coast, are swayed by the unrivalled landscape and lifestyle opportunities.

It’s a global opportunity to be involved in world leading technology and have a world famous landscape on the doorstep, from award-winning beaches to stunning lakes and mountains to enjoy leisure and adventure activities.

And energy giant Centrica Energy is once again backing a major community campaign to promote keeping Cumbria’s communities clean and green.

It is the second year the North-West Evening Mail has organised The Big Clean.

This year’s event is scheduled to take place from June 16-24.

As well as being backed by Centrica Energy, the campaign is being supported by Copeland Borough Council, Barrow Borough Council, South Lakeland District Council, and the Lake District National Park Authority.

Residents are again being given the chance to nominate areas they wish to be cleaned up, with volunteers encouraged to take part in the community clean-ups.
And the dates mean events can be organised before the Olympic torch comes to Cumbria on June 20, 21 and 22.

Tony Jarvis, Centrica Energy’s head of thermal power projects, said: “We are delighted to support the Big Clean for the second year. The safe operation of our sites is a priority and experience has taught us that a clean site is a safe site.

“As well as keeping our people safe it ensures that we all take personal responsibility to make sure our activities do not impact on the environment around us.
“This is an excellent campaign and we congratulate the North-West Evening Mail for continuing to focus on this important initiative.”

Jonathan Lee, editor of the North-West Evening Mail, said: “We hear all the time about people wanting to live in a cleaner environment and tackle litter problems. The Big Clean is a great way of bringing communities together to do just that.

“This year, with the Olympic torch coming to Cumbria, there’s an extra incentive to ensure our communities are clean, with Cumbria on the national and world stage.
“With Centrica Energy’s support, and the backing of our local authorities, we look forward to making a major difference in cleaning up our communities.”

Keith Parker, head of neighbourhoods at Copeland Borough Council, said the council was fully behind the Evening Mail’s Big Clean scheme.

He said: “We are delighted to be working with the North West Evening Mail on the Big Clean campaign and provide opportunities for communities to get involved in improving their environments.

“This is especially important in areas where the council would otherwise not have been able to go.”

Residents have been urged to get behind the scheme by Barrow Borough Council’s street care boss, Alan Barker.

He said: “I’m hoping people who read about the events last year will be supporting events and helping to build on last year’s event. Anyone who didn’t come last year should come along and meet some like minded people determined to make a real difference in the community.”

South Copeland has award-winning beaches. But there is a need to educate people about how to legally dump rubbish, by taking it to recycling centres, not dumping it on our beaches and at our beauty spots.

Copeland Borough Council has recently launched a marine litter campaign, which aims to keep the borough’s beaches clean.

Bin wagons will have a poster attached to them in support of the campaign.

It features images of litter and sea life, plus the message “Help keep our beaches clean, take your litter home”.

Councillor Hugh Branney, portfolio holder for leisure, culture and youth, said: “We have some beautiful beaches in Copeland, not least the four Quality Coast Award-winning beaches of St Bees, Haverigg, Silecroft and Seascale.

“It is vital that we keep our beaches clean and safe.

“Our message is simple; please take your litter home with you.”

In the build-up to this year’s Big Clean week, the Evening Mail went out and about to see the scale of the problem.

Rusty car seats and dozens of kitchen tiles were among items strewn across a popular nature reserve.

A litter pick at the Hodbarrow Nature Reserve, in Millom, took place as part of Copeland Borough Council’s health week.

More than 35 activities were on offer across Copeland.

Mhairi Maclauchlan, RSPB Hodbarrow warden, said: “We had 14 volunteers along with some staff from the Tesco store, which we really appreciated.

“I lost count of the amount we’d collected by the end of the day but it must have been 30 to 40 bags of rubbish.

“There was all sorts – some duvets, tiles and some rusted up car seats.

“The reserve is looking much tidier, we took so much away.

“There were people walking around the reserve and we managed to chat to a few people who commented on that.

“We had a lot of support from Copeland Borough Council but hopefully we’ll hold another event.”

A spokesman for Copeland Borough Council said: “Hodbarrow Nature Reserve clean-up proved very popular, and was a complete success.”

Miss Machlauchlan added: “It’s about getting the message across, not everybody does it but if people can take their litter home it would be a big help.”

Meanwhile a hard-hitting campaign has been launched in Millom to tackle problems with dog fouling.

Copeland Borough Council’s new poster campaign features images of the journey dog mess takes, from pavement to carpet – and eventually a toddler’s mouth.

With a message that the bacteria in dog mess can blind children, the campaign is aimed at getting residents to clean up after their dogs.

Last month five Copeland residents were taken to court and fined £390 for littering and £80 for dog fouling offences.

When the Evening Mail went out and about in Barrow, abandoned sofas and broken fridges were among the items blighting a Barrow beauty spot.

Walkers at Roanhead beach spotted the furniture dumped within a few miles of Barrow tip.

In a short walk along the beach the Evening Mail spotted discarded clothing, crisp packets, sweet wrappers and piles of dog dirt.

Hot weather brought sun bathers out in their droves but residents who use the beach regularly complained the good weather also brought more unwelcome visitors.
Nita Ratcliffe, of Pine Road, Barrow, visits the beach every day with her horse, Lucky.

She said: “It’s not too bad for rubbish but I have seen someone turn up in a van and dump a settee.

“I couldn’t believe it, I thought he was having a picnic at first.

“He put the settee out, I carried on my way for a ride and when I came back he was still there.

“There’s been all sorts dumped – there was a fridge freezer the other day.”

During the jubilee bank holiday, wardens at Roanhead in Barrow collected 13 bags of litter after visitors left crisp packets, drinks cans and carrier bags at the site.
Neil Forbes, a ranger at the Sandscale Haws nature reserve, said: “The beach was bad over the weekend but not as bad as some of the weekends we have.

“My colleague spent a day cleaning up, she collected about 13 bin bags full of rubbish and that was after being cleaned on Monday. We tend to get three
or four really bad weekends in the year.

“It’s a mix of people having picnics and the more serious problems tend to be from parties in the evening.”

Mr Forbes backed the Big Clean campaign and called for visitors to the beach and nature reserve to think about their actions.

He said: “This time of year we try and keep on top of the problem.

“The car park (in Roanhead) tends to be affected the worst.”

But he said strangers often offered their help in cleaning up the beach.

Mr Forbes said: “When my colleague was cleaning the site, two families who were there actually came over and offered to help.

“There’s a real distinction between people coming down and leaving their rubbish and other people going above and beyond the call of duty.”

Barrow councillor John Murphy said: “We do have lovely coastline.

“But for some reason people are picking up the message that it’s not acceptable to drop litter in the street but they seem to think it is acceptable to drop it on the beaches.

“Our beaches are special and beautiful and they should be treated with the same respect as the rest of our countryside.”

In South Lakeland, racegoers are being urged to “keep Cartmel clean” in a message in race programmes at this year’s meetings.

The message, from racecourse management, tells racegoers a typical race weekend will see more than eight tonnes of rubbish collected by 30 rubbish collectors.
With thousands of visitors on race days, keeping the course and Cartmel clean is a battle for racecourse staff.

But according to racecourse management the message hits home – with visitors and the course’s commitment to Cartmel reflecting the ideas behind the Evening Mail’s Big Clean campaign.

Jonathan Garratt, managing director of Cartmel Racecourse, said: “We try and encourage people to use the bins provided.

“We have more than 200 wheelie bins across the site, and a team of people from Grange Football Club helping us this year.

“In between race days we have staff picking up the litter, a lot of work goes on.

“We have a tractor-mounted sweeper and we also pay to have a road sweeper to come and sweep around the village.

“We’re proud of the village record in Cumbria in Bloom and this year it’s entering Britain in Bloom.”

Last year’s Big Clean saw hundreds of people step out into their neighbourhoods armed with bin bags and gloves.

Schoolchildren and residents gave up their time to tidy their communities in Askam, Bootle, Bowness, Dalton, Haverigg, Millom, Ormsgill, Roose, Ulverston, Walney, and Windermere.

The Lake District National Park authority also ran its “Winderclean” campaign, the same week, and has again said it will back the Big Clean this year.

The park authority is again supporting school and community groups from June 11-30, and is again backing the Big Clean to keep the countryside clean and green.
Community wardens, the police community support officers and street clean contractor, Biffa, which provided bin bags, gloves and litter pickers, also gave vital support to the campaign last year and will again be involved.

Last year tonnes of rubbish were collected by an army of volunteers who donned Big Clean T-shirts printed by Barrow firm Identity, which is again producing
the T-shirts for this year’s campaign.

If you have an area you think needs to be cleaned up, or if your organisation wants to get involved, call 01229 840186.

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk