A Rutland Councillor has backed the national and local Great British Spring Clean as Rutland County Council get on board.

Rutland residents have been encouraged to join in with the Great British Spring Clean 2023.

Back for its eighth year, the Great British Spring Clean is the nation's biggest mass-action environmental campaign.

The Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean 2023 will take place from 17 March to 2 April, and you can pledge to pick up a bag of litter – or more – now!  

Rutland County Council are in support of the project and encouraging residents and Parishes, as well as schools and businesses, to get involved.

You can choose to pledge as an individual, a group or a school by visiting the Keep Britain Tidy website, and Rutland County Council will support those that join by providing litter picking equipment and collecting all of the litter that has been collected.

Rutland County Council's Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Rosemary Powell, said: "We are extremely lucky to have so many beautiful spaces in Rutland and everyone deserves a community that they can be proud of. Litter picking is a simple action that anyone can do that makes an immediate difference to an area, so we are hoping that many people in Rutland get involved in the Great British Spring Clean.

"Please contact our Environmental Team and they can help provide you with the litter picking equipment on a first come, first serve basis and will organise to collect and dispose of the litter that you have picked."

Oakham Mayor, Cllr Sally-Anne Wadsworth, picking litter at a community event. Image credit: Nub News.

Cllr Ray Payne has also spoken out in support of the initiative, adding that is it not the responsibility of litter pickers, the Council or the Government to keep Britain's streets tidy, but all of us.

Cllr Payne said: "This annual clean-up of our streets, kerbsides, hedges and general environment is very worthy and laudable. It is an excellent campaign and one which I totally support. However, the sad truth is that here in the UK, we are dreadful as a nation at dropping litter, almost at a whim. Indeed it seems that a lot of people seem to almost regard it as their right to drop their litter wherever they like without regard to the effect that it has on the environment or the quality of other people's lives.

"I am at a loss as to why we British act in this cavalier fashion towards our own living environment, but sadly it has been the case for as long as I can remember. I have had the pleasure of visiting Japan, where litter is almost unknown, as indeed are litter bins because they are simply nor needed! There, everyone takes their litter home and dispossess of it in their own dustbins. It is no exaggeration to say that you could eat your dinner off the pavements so clean are they.

"If they can do it then why cannot we also take pride in our country and our living environment? It comes down to all of us taking responsibility, it's not someone else's job, it's not job of the Council nor the Government, it is simply up to all of us to make the effort to do, what most of us know to be, in our hearts the right thing and NOT DROP LITTER!"

To take part please email [email protected] today and don't forget to pledge to pick up a bag or find more information online.