Litter Hub helps Haughton Green community take pride in their area

Primary school children in Denton joined forces with local leaders to show how easy it is to carry out a community clean up.

Children from St John Fisher RC Primary School, who are Eco Reps at their school, were joined by local councillors, Tameside Council staff, Andrew Gwynne MP and representatives of Irwell Valley on 13 October to clean up the area around Tatton Park, Haughton Green.

The park is close to the Oasis Community Centre, which is one of a network of now 18 litter hubs available across the borough where residents can pick up and borrow free equipment to help them to help clean up their local neighbourhoods.

First established in 2019, the litter hub network has now expanded across the borough and is on hand to support community minded citizens who want to join forces and participate in the Tameside Litter Pledge or form a clean-up to support the council’s Our Streets campaign for a greener, cleaner borough.

Litter and fly tipping are a blight on resources everywhere, not just in Tameside, but encouraging residents to take pride in their local places is an ideal way to help already pressured budgets.

A number of days of action have taken place across the borough and successfully prove that teamwork involving community support is invaluable to help make local towns cleaner.

The network includes lots of community meet up spots and popular venues across Tameside such as Aqua Nurture ridge hill Gee Cross), Portland Basin Museum - Ashton, Big Local -Stalybridge and Hattersley Big Community Garden.

Each hub has equipment available including hi-vis jackets, litter pickers, and black bags and a safety checklist to help people undertake the litter pick safely.

Dedicated volunteer hub champions are taking the reins at local hubs to help give the power back to the community but there are still champions needed for some of the hubs if there are local volunteers who feel passionate about keeping their town or area clean.

It’s easy to take part in a litter picking activity and all sorts of groups have made a start on cleaning up the borough from friends, neighbours, school children and community groups.

Cllr Denise Ward, Tameside Executive Member for Environmental Services, said: “Providing free equipment in accessible areas for residents is proving to really help make a difference in involving the local community in clean ups. Working together and taking a co-operative approach to tackling litter really helps boost the pride in the local area and makes Tameside a cleaner place for everyone.”

For further information on the litter hubs, please visit www.tameside.gov.uk/litterhubs or contact Sharron Power on 07980 993553 or email her at sharron.power@tameside.gov.uk.

To promote a littler pick in your area, add the #Ourstreets and the council share your posts on social media.