North Northants Council works with the community to tidy up Wellingborough

North Northants Council (NNC) has teamed up with members of the community to give their town a tidy-up.

Following a successful ‘Big Clean Up’ day in Wellingborough last year, the council’s waste team has been working with residents and local businesses to improve the quality of waste and street scenes in the Wellingborough area.

The initiative addressed issues such as heavily contaminated recycling bins with non-recyclable items such as nappies, garden waste and food found in bins, misuse of unauthorised extra bins, bins left on pavements, side waste (all waste should be presented within the relevant bins) and commercial waste bins causing obstructions in the town centre.

The scheme has run throughout the past year and NNC has worked across three principles - engagement, education and enforcement.

Enforcement will always be the last resort by NNC and in the most serious of cases, where engagement and education has been unsuccessful, a Fixed Penalty Notice will be issued, or cases issued to the magistrates court.

Following the engagement period, which saw 748 residents receiving letters to explain how they could improve their recycling and present their household waste, officers have patrolled the mapped-out areas and monitored recycling.

Throughout this process and alongside regular clean ups, NNC has reported a noticeable improvement.

The waste team says it received a ‘fantastic response’ from residents and business owners with more than 99 per cent compliance to the requests made.

There has been a vast improvement noted across the town particularly with less bins being left on the streets and waste left on streets.

It has also been noted that this has stopped other residents from adding to waste left on streets and causing accumulations, while the number of fly-tip cases reported has also dropped.

Cllr Graham Lawman, the council’s executive member for highways, travel and assets, said: “I welcome this initiative, which has made a real difference to Wellingborough.

"North Northamptonshire Council are always keen to work with the local community to improve the places that they live in and will always engage with residents and advise and educate before taking any enforcement action.

“The fantastic response level by residents and businesses in Wellingborough demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach and through providing guidance, we hope that the improvements will be maintained, making a better environment for everybody.”

Cllr Jason Smithers, council leader, added: “This is such great news and shows how we can all work together to make North Northamptonshire a cleaner and tidier place.

"I would encourage everyone to ensure they are placing the correct items in their recycling and putting bins out on the correct days.

"If you are unsure about anything, please check our website which has all the information you will need.”

The council says unfortunately there were a very small number of residents who refused to co-operate with the initiative and six Fixed Penalty Notices were issued and four prosecution files have been sent to the magistrates court where more serious offences were identified.