Litter picking hub aims to boost city clean-ups

The opening of a new centre targeting litter picking is needed in a city to cope with "disgusting" levels of rubbish, volunteers say.

The Clean Up Hub has been officially opened in Ball Hill, Coventry, to provide people in the area with equipment for litter picks.

Campaign group Destination Ball Hill pushed to get it set up and co-chair Angela Knight said they have been carrying out monthly rubbish collections since 2022.

"This is going to help during the week and hopefully anyone who feels like helping their community can come along and pick up litter," she said.

As well as her community efforts, Mrs Knight runs the Two Tone Café in the area with her husband and said "as a local business owner we're concerned about the litter attracting rats".

"I sympathise with the council because it's a big job to keep everywhere clean, but for us Walsgrave Road is one of the main routes into Coventry, so it's really important that it's kept clean," she added.

"Obviously we can cope with the litter picking but the fly-tipping is just too much for us to do."

Charity Clean UP UK helped set up the hub and the Labour MP for Coventry East, Mary Creagh, cut the ribbon.

She said litter picking schemes were key to keeping on top of the problem.

"All the evidence shows that once someone puts a bottle or a can on a wall, everyone else thinks it's ok to do the same," she said.

"It's the same with cluttered streets and fly-tipping.

"The government has given local councils a £69bn uplift to their grant, which has allowed Coventry Council to invest £2m to install cameras in fly-tipping hotspots and setting up clean-up squads."

A city council spokesperson said they understand keeping on top of the litter problem in areas like Ball Hill was "serious".

Councillor Kamran Caan said the levels of rubbish being dumped around the city were going up and it was getting "more difficult because of the growing number of vehicles in the city"

"We think, if we can be more sensible about the way we use the bins we've already got, that can really help," he added.

"People are piling up rubbish wherever they see a bin - but we will be issuing fines if you don't dispose of your litter in a clean and responsible manner."

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