Most of us have had the experience of clearing up someone else’s mess. It might be something in the family, like nappy changing, clearing up after a toddler who is far better at getting out toys than they will ever be at putting them away, or a teenager who has not quite got the hang of the purpose of a laundry basket. Or it might be tidying up a mess made by a less than diligent colleague at work.
In the Wokingham town area, and across the Borough, we are lucky to have people who are prepared to clear up the public mess left by slovenly litterers. Various groups and individuals participate in the Adopt-A-Street schemes and do so much to keep all our communities cleaner.
Under the Adopt-A-Street schemes, individuals are provided with a litter picker and some Adopt-A-Street thin green plastic bags. The resident can then pick up as much litter as they feel able in their local area, often just their street or part of a street. The waste can be put out in the thin green plastic bags with the bi-weekly collection. The recycling can be separated if desired – the point of the exercise is, after all, to get the waste off the streets.
Recently my own personal clean up mission has been directed at the graffiti deposited around the Wokingham town area. Using material provided by Wokingham Town Council I have removed graffiti from over 300 locations in July and August. Some graffiti remains, in particular graffiti on walls or fences which is harder to remove.
Like any mess – nappies, toddlers’ toys or litter, the graffiti will come back, indeed some graffiti hot spots have been visited three or more time this year. But just because the mess reappears is not a reason to stop cleaning it up. Oh no. It is a reason for going back and doing it again.
People are often appreciative of anyone doing their bit in the community, but one conversation sticks in my mind. I was cleaning some graffiti in Charwood Road, Wokingham. An elderly couple stopped to talk. They asked me if I would clean graffiti from a couple of cabinets in their road nearby. They explained how the graffiti in their road and the wider area made them feel unsafe and made them less likely to leave the house for a short walk in their local area. Whatever the motives of the local graffiti-taggers, I am pretty sure that scaring elderly people is not what they want to achieve. Of course, that graffiti got cleaned immediately afterwards.
The new government too has lots of mess to clean up.
The Office of Budget Responsibility has confirmed that the last Conservative government left a 22 billion pound black hole in our country’s finances for the current year alone. It is clear the last Conservative government was hoping to see out the year on a wing and a prayer rather than a proper plan.
But it is not just finances. Everyone knows what huge pressure all parts of the NHS are experiencing, with the Conservatives bequeathing record waiting lists to the new government. Last week it was revealed that every signal Royal Navy attack submarine (these are the ‘normal’ submarines, not the nuclear armed submarines) was out of operation – all are waiting repairs or refits.
Some messes are easy to forgive and do not change how we feel about a person. Nappies and our teenagers’ bedrooms fall into that category. Some messes less so – uncollected dog wasters, litterers and graffiti-taggers are in that category.
But let us not forget the people that created the real mess this country was left in.
It is relatively easy to pick up a litter picking stick or a tub of graffiti wipes and go outside and clean up some local mess. Keir Starmer’s government has a far harder job on its hands.
Andy Croy is a Councillor for Norreys East (Labour)
