Kettering lockdown litter picker Lee clears A14 path

Lee Watkiss with some of the rubbish he has collected.

A Kettering man has been making the most of his daily lockdown exercise by making a neglected footpath litter-free.

Lee Watkiss, 43, has been litter-picking for some time but upped the ante when emergency coronavirus powers were introduced last month.

On most days since then he has used his exercise hour as an opportunity to remove waste from a footpath by the side of the A14, between junctions 8 and 9.

So far he has cleared a 200m stretch - filling 15 bin liners with bottles, cans, car debris and even a child's swing seat.

Lee, who lives on the leisure village estate, said: "I walked down the path just before lockdown and it wasn't in a good way so I wanted use my hour of exercise by giving something back.

"It's an area that gets neglected and a lot of rubbish has been there for years and years."

The Nationwide worker said he had seen a huge increase in discarded PPE in recent weeks, which appears to be flung out of car windows.

In one day alone he picked up between 50 and 60 gloves.

He now plans to carry on towards Tesco before taking on other stretches.

He said: "It's looking really good now. I'd like to think that over the next few weeks I'll make my way up towards Tesco at Junction 9.

"Then I might do some between Junctions 7 and 6 and then start thinking about the other side."

Highways England collects about 200,000 bags of rubbish from their road network each year but a spokesman said clearing this stretch was down to Kettering Council.

A council spokesman said: "The council is impressed with Mr Watkiss’ commitment and use of his exercise time to improve his local environment.

"We would, however, strongly encourage him to undertake these activities in quieter areas where there is less risk to his personal safety."