8:00pm Sunday 14th March 2010
By Catherine Pye
A teenager wants residents to join him on a community clean-up after growing fed up of the council’s ‘invisible’ response to litter blight.
Student Elliott Gazdula, 17, of Chapter Road, is a member of the Darwen and Rural Neighbourhood Board, and has been removing litter from areas in Marsh House ward with the help of fellow board member Nicky Hargreaves and councillors Chris Thayne and Simon Huggill.
He said: “I have complained about the situation since January to Blackburn with Darwen Council but it became clear that nothing was going to happen.
"Therefore I took action into my own hands.”
Since the start of the month, Elliott has cleaned an alley behind Rosehill terrace, a wooded area at the end of Priory Drive, and a similar area at the side of Pole Lane and Sough Road.
But he said: “Much more needs to be done. I beg of people, regardless of where they live in Darwen, not to ignore the litter within our town and just walk past it.
"It’s that type of attitude that has got our town into this state.”
Coun Alan Cottam, of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “The council has experienced difficulty with street cleansing since January due to the weather problems.
"The amount of rubbish in adopted back streets has been considerably higher than normal.
“During winter, the litter clearing on grassed areas is limited, with increased resources to cater for litter on grassed areas re-introduced from March each year, in line with grass cutting services.”
Elliott can be contacted on elliottgazdula@hotmail.co.uk
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