Volunteers clear rubbish dumped on street 'for weeks'

The chair of Slough Anti-Litter Society said fly-tipping was prevalent in the area

Large quantities of rubbish were left piling up on a street for at least seven weeks before being cleared by community volunteers, a resident has said.

Daniel Ciecielag, who volunteers picking up litter in the area, said repeated requests had been made to the borough council about a pile on the corner between Diamond Road and Princess Street.

But he said nothing was done and in the meantime a young girl suffered a cut when she fell from her scooter onto a discarded can.

The council said smaller estates were cleaned every six-to-eight weeks "or more frequently if there is a specific need".

Mr Ciecielag said: “We cleaned the litter up – but there’s only five of us volunteering in this area and we can’t do it all ourselves.

"Every time we send emails to the council about the litter nothing happens.

“The shop owners say they have to clean the street in front by themselves because no one from the council comes anymore.

“People pay their council tax for this – it rose in April and nothing is being done. In my opinion the council is just wasting money.”

'Not a reduction in service'

Tirza Meinema, co-founder and chair of the Slough Anti-Litter Society, said fly-tipping was also prevalent in the area and urged residents to stop littering and to instead use bins and take their rubbish home.

Slough Borough Council said it aimed to respond to litter complaints within 48 hours after being reported.

It said its budget for street cleaning this year was just under £1.5m and that the majority of this was spent on staff and vehicles to collect the litter.

It comes after the cash-strapped council said it hoped to save £71,000 in this year’s budget through "street cleaning improvements".

Councillor Gurchuran Manku, lead member for environment, said this was "not a reduction in service" when the budget was approved in March this year.