Businesses, town centre leaders and an army of volunteers have issued a challenge to keep Northampton town centre looking its best, after collecting more than half a tonne of litter in one morning – the equivalent to a thoroughbred racehorse or a Highland cow.
The concerted clean-up campaign – organised by Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) – saw business owners encouraged to transform the look of their workplace and make shops, cafes, restaurants even more welcoming to visitors to the town centre.
They were joined by volunteers from the Northants Litter Wombles, Mayor of Northampton Clly Rufia Ashraf and representatives from West Northamptonshire Council and Northampton Town Council – with almost 50 people collecting more than 100 bags of rubbish from known litter hot spots around the town centre.
The dedicated ‘tidy day’ forms part of a series of projects to smarten up the town, encouraging all business owners to take pride in their premises and get Northampton looking its best.
Mark Mullen, Northampton Town Centre BID operations manager, said:
“We were delighted to see so many people join us, taking time out of their day to play their part in making our town centre look its very best.
All of us have a part to play in restoring some of that civic pride, whether it’s business owners sweeping their doorways or shoppers making sure they put their rubbish in the bin.
With more than 300 bins in and around the town centre there really is no excuse for anyone to be dropping litter. Hopefully the Tidy Day will help show people just how good our town centre can look if everyone makes a concerted effort to dispose of their rubbish in the right way. The challenge now is to keep it looking this good.”
Leader of West Northamptonshire Council, Cllr Jonathan Nunn, joined the team clearing up Bridge Street, Victoria Gardens, St Giles Street and Fish Street while staff from Veolia, Chronicle & Echo, NLive Radio, McDonalds, Metro Bank, Matchbox Café and a host of other town centre retailers also took part.
The Tidy Day formed the focal point of a week of action across the town. Other days will see similar activities organised by Northampton Town Council, with each councillor taking the lead for their individual wards.
Community groups are also encouraged to get involved and can apply for a grant of up to £3,000 to conduct their own activity through the Constance Travis Global Goals fund via the Northamptonshire Community Foundation website.
