“Street by street, road by road, we will take charge and stop the 1% of our community who do the dumping from dragging the good name of our town down.”
So declared Councillor Kevin Callan this morning, Sunday November14, after a Tidy Towns clean up on the Dublin Road and Bryanstown Cross Route.
Callan, who is chair of the Drogheda Tidy Towns group, said that the committee and the ever-increasing number of volunteers that support them will take back control of the areas currently of the town currently being used as dumping grounds.
“There is no doubt that this is an uphill battle, but it is a battle we will win”, he said. “Street by street, road by road, we will take charge and stop the 1% of our community who do the dumping from dragging the good name of our town down”.
Drogheda Tidy Towns Committee continues to gain momentum in its fight back on Drogheda’s recent status as heavily littered in IBALs report most heavily littered this Sunday with another large scale clean up.
The town was classified in the Irish Businesses Against Litter Survey as one of the worst littered in Ireland. In a matter of weeks of the report being published, Drogheda retained its gold medal status in the Tidy Towns Competition and the committee are continuing to push back on those carrying out illegal dumping with an overall strategy for the town being launched this coming week.
“The public support has been excellent” Councillor Callan told Drogheda Life. “We now have over 20 people joining us on clean-ups of areas including Dublin Road, Donore Road and the Bryanstown Cross route.
Later this week the Tidy Towns committee will be finalising its five-year strategy for the town and launching it for public consultation and commentary. The group will also be liaising with the Mayor, Councillors in Drogheda, Drogheda Chamber, Drogheda BIDS and other local groups.
Deepforde residents who took part in the clean-up initiative this morning with Councillor Stephen McKee.
The committee also thanked all those who helped them with projects throughout the year and by volunteering which made sure the gold medal status was retained.
“Drogheda is so big, it is only with the help and support of so many people who do their bit that we can continue to push back on bad behaviour and make our town a nice place to live and work” Councillor Callan said.
“The Tidy Towns Competition is very different to IBAL, the survey which declared us heavily littered focuses on litter only, whilst the Tidy Towns Competition focuses on lots of other areas such as community engagement, biodiversity and residential group participation.
“We will continue to focus on all areas for tidy towns but our primary focus will be illegal dumping for the next few months. It is thanks to the committee of volunteers and many volunteers and the Council that we have retained our gold status and we need to continue to work to get our 15th Gold Medal next year.”
