by Hannah Jones
A group of Croft residents has taken to the streets to pick up litter following a surge in the amount of waste lining the streets during lockdown.
Joan Hughes, a local resident, decided to kickstart the Croft Litter Network after growing tired of seeing the area covered in rubbish.
Ms. Hughes said: “I do think there’s an awful lot more litter, everyone in the village has noticed because we’re all out an awful lot more.
“We’ve got a lot of people walking the public footpaths who don’t know the village and possibly don’t care about the village and perhaps just dump it.”
Since the groups creation in February 2021, they have gained 45 members, however, increasingly, many more are independently doing their bit within the community.
Claire Hill, 37, and her mother, Chris Hill, 67, started the activity whilst on their daily walks.
Chris, a retiree and frequent church volunteer, said: “We find wine bottles, blister packs of painkillers; who do they think is going to clear this up?
“We’re lucky to live in a lovely village and we want to keep it that way, if we wait for other people to tidy it we could be waiting for years.”
Formal clean ups have proven to be a difficult task within the area, Councillor Norman Partington, chair of the Croft parish council, said: “Trying to get anything done these days is difficult because of the austerity that’s hit Warrington Borough Council.
“They’ve been hit by budget cuts since about 2010, we do really suffer in that respect and litter is a constant problem.
“People don’t realise, they think the council can deal with it, but in a lot of cases, there’s not a lot they can do because they haven’t got the resources.”
Ms. Hughes was keen to emphasise the importance of everyone playing their part, adding: “Every little helps, and I look at it that way, if we all just pick up one thing we see when we’re out, it’s one less thing on the street.
“It’s the people taking back control over their community and it’s another example of the crofters doing that’
Chris Hill (L) and Claire Hill (R) during their litter pick in the village.
