Boyneside town comes 39th out of 40 in the latest IBAL Anti-Litter League
Drogheda is now Ireland’s dirtiest town, it has come 39th out of 40 in the latest IBAL Anti-Litter League results published today by An Taisce. Coming in last place was the Ballybane area of Galway City.
Seriously Littered. Drogheda has failed to improve on its poor showing at the end of 2021. There was only one top ranking site, the train station, while half of the sites surveyed were heavily littered, with one litter blackspot, at Marsh Road., where there was evidence of dumping.
Here are the results forth the various areas of Drogheda and the judges comments:
The shopping street of West Street was heavily littered, which is out of kilter with most shopping streets we encounter. Food-related litter was widespread.
Wheaton Hall Retail Area: Grade B+. A freshly presented retail environment which just missed getting the top litter grade. The ‘Bring Facility’ was in good order.
Mac Bridge – Drogheda Train Station: Grade A. The ‘olde’ style station building was in very good order with a virtual absence of litter throughout. It created a positive first impression of Drogheda for anybody arriving by train. The car park was in good order.
Marley’s Lane: Grade C. (from Rowan Heights to Rathmullen Road) There was a heavy litter presence along this mixed use route. Most of the litter was food related, with lower levels of alcohol items. It was particularly pronounced along the boundary of the community college, at the shrubbery areas and close to the bins. Dog fouling signage was dirty / almost illegible;
St. Dominic’s Park: Grade B. A lovely town park environment which has been attractively laid out and maintained with colourful ‘wild flower’ bank / Area Managed for Wildflower. PE equipment, bins and benches were in very good order. There was some heavy hitting anti-litter signage e.g. ‘Don’t be a tosser – Why are you dumping here? I am a jerk / I don’t care about this community / I think other people should pay to clean up after me’. If it wasn’t for the fast-food related litter and other occasional food related items this would have been a top ranking site.
Marsh Road: Grade D. Some parts of this road were fine, but not all. As well as casually discarded litter there was some dumping along this route. The derelict sites presented poorly and harboured much of the litter / dumping.
West Street: Grade C+. it is quite unusual for a main shopping street to be so heavily littered. The pavement, planting, seating and street bins looked well along Westgate Street but there were very obvious food and alcohol related items, along with cigarette butts and face masks.
St. Laurence Street: Grade C. The pedestrian pathway of the boarded up site harboured much of the litter, but not all. The most obvious items were coffee cups, mineral cans and sweet wrappers with lower levels of a wide variety of alcohol cans, cigarette butts and other food related items. All of this took away from what has been an attractively presented streetscape with planter boxes, boards, signage etc. in good order.
Newfoundwell Road: Grade B. This road was somewhat mixed, in terms of litter. Some parts were very well presented and maintained and clear of litter, others less so. Litter was most notable at the far side of Newtown blues and the area opposite Aston Village. Litter items were mainly food related, with some cigarette butts, plastic ties and face-masks.
Ballsgrove Recycling: Grade C+. This small facility presented poorly with a variety of litter items at the base of the bins and to the rear. One of the green clothing units presents poorly, rusty and old. There was very clear signage relating to the use of the facility, one of which had graffiti.
Beamore Road: Grade B. A more thorough approach to the cleaning of the base of the shrubbery area would address much of the litter issue along this route. The footpath / paving areas were freshly presented and clear of litter.
