Worst 'grot spot' so far tackled by team (From Worcester News)

Worst 'grot spot' so far tackled by team

10:00am Thursday 22nd July 2010 in Take Pride Headlines By James Savage, @jamessavageWN #worcsnews

CLEAN SWEEP: Worcester City Council operational cleaning team working in Prestbury Close, Blackpole, yesterday with Ray Webb busy at the wheel of a Johnston compact sweeper during a tough operation. Picture by John Anyon. 29047101. Buy this photo »

THE scourge of dog mess has been tackled in one city street thanks to the Take Pride in Worcester campaign.

A concerned resident used the new ‘grot spot’ reporting system to tell the city council about a troublesome alleyway in Prestbury Close, Blackpole.

Two workers were sent to the scene and have now given the area a much-needed tidy-up.

As part of the Take Pride scheme, in conjunction with the city council and VisitWorcester, your Worcester News is trying to highlight how much time and effort is used cleaning up our rubbish.

Malcolm Cox, operations manager at Worcester City Council, said of yesterday’s clean-up operation: “We have tackled a lot of grot spots since the Take Pride scheme started but this was definitely the worst one we have had so far.

“Quite a lot of the sites we have been to have not been that bad, only involving a few bits of litter, but this one was different.

“One person contacted us and said there was a lot of dog fouling going on behind the school. Schoolchildren walk around there and lots of them have been treading in dog mess.

“Two workers went out to tackle the problem. The first went and cleared up all of the litter and then the mechanical sweeper was used to pick up all of the dog mess.

“This was a good example of what the system is there for.”

Mr Cox said that since the Take Pride scheme started on Monday, July 13, the council’s street cleaning teams had been visiting, on average, about three grot spots each day.

He said: “Some days we will go to six and other days just the one. Some of them will be quite minor but the message is we will treat all of the reports the same. Whatever we can do we will do it.

“From the workers’ point of view it is good to see them getting credit and recognition for what they are doing – it makes them feel appreciated.”