Borough branded ‘one big litter bin’

And now council has agreed to bring in agency staff to help with the clean up.

Alderman Sidney Anderson said the area was like one big litter bin.

“I was driving around at the weekend and it seems to be getting worse,” he added. “I remember a similar situation last year. We need to get the borough back into some sort of shape.

“Chip bags, cartons and plastic bags are everywhere.”

Mayor, Councillor Carla Lockhart suggested that handcarts could be introduced to the village areas,

“I am very keen to see them and we should seriously look at them for village area,” she added.

Councillor Darren Causby highlighted the Meadow Lane area of Portadown.

“The state of the car park was atrocious,” he said. “We should write to Roads Service to make sure they have appropriate and adequate bin provision.”

Director of Environmental Services, Mrs Lorraine Crawford, said the litter problem does grow at this time of the year with staff taking their annual leave and agency staff having to be brought in to help out.

Alderman Stephen Moutray claimed the litter situation in the borough has been getting worse over the last couple of weeks.

“I took my young niece to Shankill cemetery to see the grave of Majorie McCall and the Shankill estate was absolutely appalling,” he said. “I have never seen anything worse in my life.”

But, he added, it was the same in parts of south Lurgan.

“Council has to get serious about the basic issues. We need to spend money on our communities within Craigavon,” he said, adding that they needed to get the March holiday issue sorted out.

Councillor Gemma McKenna said they had to remember that prevention is better than cure and they should try to bring civic pride back to Craigavon through schools and community groups.

Mrs Crawford said they had to allow people to take their annual leave.

Mr Anderson complained that at this time of the year they ended up with a dirty borough and proposed that agency workers should be employed to get the borough clean.

Councillor Kenneth Twyble said he had been through the streets of Lurgan and Portadown and was alarmed at the state of untidiness. He had been at a funeral recently and the streets around the church were disgusting.

Alderman Anderson said: “The present issue is that the borough is a complete mess.”

He added it just did not relate to just a few streets but the borough needed cleaned. “Bring in staff and after that try and keep it clean with the staff we have,” he said.

Mrs Crawford said that previously they brought in four to six agency staff to hit the hot spots. Some places were cleaned on daily basis, others once a week and others once a fortnight but they could do everywhere on a daily basis.

Mr Anderson’s proposal that the council bring in agency staff was agreed.

“It is not an option to do nothing,” he added. “Let’s get the borough cleaned.”

What are the worst areas for littering in the Lurgan area? Let us know by texting to 84555, starting with LMCOMMENT and then a space.