Sometimes when all else fails, you just have to do the job yourself.
Four Lib Dem councillors – three from Maidstone council and one from Kent County Council – have rolled up their sleeves and set to work to clear up a prominent former millpond in the centre of Maidstone.
The pond alongside Palace Avenue and adjacent to the old Rootes building, which is currently being redeveloped, was littered with discarded fishing tackle, syringes, ‘sharps’ boxes for discarded needles, traffic cones, fast food waste, soiled underwear and hundreds of drink bottles and cans.
The councillors collected 15 refuse sacks full of litter on Saturday.
Cllr Tony Harwood said: “This millpond should be a focal point for the town – a beautiful, cooling, urban oasis and wildlife haven, rather than what it too often is – a polluted and litter-strewn eyesore.
“The redevelopment of Len House (Rootes) and the planned ‘daylighting’ of the adjacent stretch of the River Len provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the rehabilitation of this too-long-neglected part of the town.”
Cllr Harwood has ambitions to see the millpond incorporated into the River Len Local Nature Reserve, of which he is chairman.
He said: “A past attempt to assimilate the millpond into the River Len Local Nature Reserve was not supported by Maidstone council, but a higher profile for the millpond, associated with the redevelopment of Len House, provides an opportunity to re-energize the nature reserve designation debate.”
Cllr Dinesh Khadka, who organised the clean-up, said: “We cannot leave all the responsibility of clearing litter and fly-tipping to our overstretched council environment team.
“As individuals, we all need to take more pride in our area and each do what we can to keep the County Town clean.”
Cllrs Harwood and Khadka were joined on the clean-up by Cllr Clive English and County Cllr Chris Passmore, who added: “Businesses, landowners and public sector organisations, like the county council and National Highways, also need to do more to keep the land they are responsible for litter and fly-tipping free.”
Cllr English expressed a concern that cleanliness across the borough has declined in recent years. He said: “Maidstone is drowning under a tidal wave of litter and compares very badly with other parts of the UK.”
He added: “Behaviours have got to change and both enforcement and education need to be stepped up.”
Cllr Harwood summed up the situation, adding: “It is not the natural state of things to live in a rubbish tip. If people just stopped dropping litter and dumping waste we’d all be a lot happier, healthier and richer.”
Cllr Harwood wants to see the millpond incorporated into the River Len Local Nature Reserve, which he believes will ensure the site is managed appropriately for wildlife and kept clean in the future. He is chairman of the management committee of the reserve.
He added: “A past attempt to assimilate the millpond into the River Len Local Nature Reserve was not supported by Maidstone council.
“A higher profile for the millpond, associated with the redevelopment of Len House, provides an opportunity to re-energize the nature reserve designation debate.”
