Call for more use of hand carts to combat litter issue

Councillors said residents in all parts of the borough are complaining about litter picking and street cleaning.

DUP Cllr Carla Lockhart raised the issue at the last meeting of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council saying people living in large estates and developments she represented had complained about litter and street cleaning.

She said that she had asked previously for this issue to be investigated adding she had never seen the handcarts in the villages and was concerned that they were not being utilised. She said they needed to extend this service into estates, town centre areas and villages.

Sinn Fein Cllr Brendan Curran said he would like to see the handcarts out in all estates, not just large estates.
SDLP Cllr Declan McAlinden said he had been constantly lobbying for this for some time. He said that the state of the rural roads with litter was dreadful.

Party colleague Cllr Joe Nelson pointed out that it was now two years since approval had been given to use handcarts, but he had never seen them in the village of Aghagallon. And he said he would not like to see them going into the larger estates to the detriment of the smaller estates.

UKIP’s David Jones revealed that a report had been brought to an Environmental Services Committee showing where the handcarts were used and none were used around Portadown and Lurgan areas. He added that after mechanical sweepers had left estates in his area and cars had moved there was still litter remaining and asked for manual sweepers to be used.

Cllr Gemma McKenna (SF) sought clarification on the number of handcarts available and information in relation to street cleaning rotas.

Council voted that a further detailed report on street cleansing be brought back to the next meeting of the Environmental Services Committee Meeting.