Local MP, Caroline Dinenage, took part in the Great British Spring Clean along with many anti-litter heroes working to keep Gosport clean at an event at Stokes Bay on Saturday.
Caroline joined The Friends of Stokes Bay, the team from Gomer Juniors, a group of our local Conservative Councillors and others to tidy up Stokes Bay.
The Great British Spring Clean is a new national initiative launched by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. Taking place from the Friday 3 March until Sunday 5 March, it was the nation's biggest ever anti-litter campaign, inspiring 500,000 people across the UK to get involved with community initiatives to tackle litter in their local areas.
The Great British Spring Clean built on the success of the 2016 national clean-up, which saw 250,000 people take part. This aim of the Great British Spring Clean is to encourage half a million litter pickers to help clean up the country, whilst also raising awareness of the damaging economic and environmental consequences of litter. RSPCA data reveals that there are 5,000 reports of animals being injured by litter each year, and the annual economic cost of cleaning Britain's streets is £700 million.
Dropping litter costs councils hundreds of millions of pounds every year to clear up and spoils our enjoyment of towns and the countryside. Littered areas can reduce property prices and local businesses may suffer as people stay away. This affects the whole community and it can be avoided by everyone taking responsibility.
Commenting, Caroline said:
'The Great British Spring Clean is a fantastic event that really encourages residents to make a positive difference to their local communities. It was fantastic to see that 10 clean ups were arranged locally and over 2500 clean up's took place across the UK, showing that people really got behind this initiative.
Litter is an unsightly addition to our neighbourhoods and picking it up costs taxpayers millions of pounds every year, that's why I am glad to lend my support to such an important initiative. I am thrilled to see Gosport residents taking a pro-active approach to litter with regular litter-picks and action groups already doing a fantastic job to help keep Gosport tidy.'
You can find out more about the Great British Spring Clean, here: http://www.greatbritishspringclean.org.uk/home/2684. Information about future clean up events happening in Gosport can be found here: http://www.litteraction.org.uk/sea-solent-environmental-action.
