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More than 200 pieces of litter near so called 'community school'
(July 23, 2010)KINGDOWN pupils celebrated
breaking up from school for the summer holidays by leaving a paper and
litter trail much worse than usual.
Along a short stretch of Woodcock Road and through Woodcock Lane
hundreds of discarded bottles, cans, wrappers, crisp packets were this
time joined by a paper trail of pages ripped out of exercise books.
"We are fed up with it," said one resident who obviously takes a
pride in her garden and was once again removing the trash from her
plants by her front wall.
"They stuff every day in the morning and again in the afternoon. You can't say anything as you just get a gobful of abuse."
Another resident complained that they had given up complaining to the school and local councillors years ago.
A woman walking her dog described the behaviour as 'a disgrace'.
Another passer-by mocked the term 'community school'.
Apply The Law
Twenty years ago the Environmental Protection Act was passed with a section that created the 'offence of leaving litter'.
In some areas it is very strictly applied with those dropping a match being issued with a penalty ticket.
"I counted 225 items of litter on one side of the road between the
One-stop and front wall of Kingdown School this afternoon," said former
councillor Paul Macdonald.
"The first lesson that should be taught next term is 'what is the square root of 225?"
"When the pupils ask why tell them that is the number of days they will have to pay the £50 fine if they are caught."
Paul is co-author of visionforwarminster.co.uk and also a
volunteer member of the WETS team who work on the second Sunday of each
month tidying up and area of Warminster.
"Then ask them if it a punishable offence to drop litter?" suggests
Paul. "Do you know what the fixed penalty is?"
Tourist Complaint
Paul responded to a tourist complaint about
the state of Smallbrook Nature Reserve a few weeks ago and spent a
Sunday morning tidying up another of the routes used by the
schoolchildren.
"I will be in touch with the authorities to suggest getting this law enforced not in a heavy-handed manner at first."
"We need to ensure that the respite that local residents will now
have from this gives those who should be tackling this over a month to
come up with an action plan."
Vfw called for action about this two years ago and co-author Steve
Dancey has also drawn attention to the 'broken window syndrome'.