Call to address litter blackspots in Midleton

A PUSH to re-establish a Tidy Towns committee in Midleton has been driven by an increase in dumping at blackspots around the town.

Local councillor Susan McCarthy (FG) has described it as “a shame” that an area of natural beauty such as the Slob Bank – near the Choctaw Memorial sculpture — has been targeted by litterers, while she has also highlighted the removal of public bins from the town by Cork County Council which had been used for dumping household waste.

“We have a situation whereby litter bins have been removed by the Council. Some of them would have been put on for the former Tidy Towns group,” she said.

“I don’t agree with litter bins being removed. I understand why the Council is doing it, because people are dumping domestic waste into them and they don’t have the manpower to be collecting domestic waste, but we need to look at compliance and enforcement — we are not strong enough on that.

“There are a few dumping blackspots in Midleton. The Tidy Towns used to do clean-ups on these and some of them are not Council land so the Council will refuse to go in.

“Since the Tidy Towns has been inactive, those areas have gotten worse and worse.

“The Slob Bank is an area of natural beauty and it’s recognised for bird watching. It’s a shame to see all the plastic bottles and paper containers thrown there.

“It’s near the famous Choctaw monument and water comes in from the harbour.

“It’s very disappointing to see,” she added.

The Local Tidy Towns committee has been relatively inactive for the last 18 months due to committee membership changes.

A meeting will take place at the My Place building in the town on October 5 at 7.30pm to encourage participation in the group and to identify areas in the town which are in need of improvement.

Weekly clean-ups, as well as planting and painting projects, are also envisaged.