Two local families have today been recognised for their litter picking efforts on the northern end of Cleethorpes beach after a small number of people left it a mess with rubbish.
North East Lincolnshire Council Cabinet members met with Jamie Sullivan and his son Sam, and Laura Holmes, her daughters Paris and Phoebe and Phoebe’s boyfriend Ben, on Thursday 9 July to give them a letter including retail vouchers and litter picking equipment to thank them for their efforts and for taking pride in their community.
Councillor Callum Procter, portfolio holder for tourism, heritage and culture, said: “Many people in North East Lincolnshire take pride in the place they live and want our resort to be a clean, green, and tidy place. Sadly, a small number of people are not being fair and ruining our beautiful coastline for others.
“We love welcoming people to our wonderful resort but you must respect it so everyone can enjoy it.
“It was great to meet with these families and personally thank them for their efforts in keeping the beach clean.”
Councillor Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for environment and transport, said: “The majority of people take pride in our borough and respect the environment and wildlife.
“A daily clean of the beach starts at 6am with the council’s street cleansing team and takes place from Wonderland in the north, right through to Pleasure Island in the south of the resort, making sure all bins are emptied and picking up litter during the day. The beach is raked daily to prevent litter being drawn back into the Humber. If it is too busy to continue raking, staff will park up and litter pick instead.
“As a council we can only do so much. It is everyone’s responsibility to look after their own litter. There are more than 50 litter bins along Cleethorpes Promenade, so there’s no excuse to leave rubbish on the beach. Please put your rubbish in a bin. If a bin is full, then take your rubbish home with you.”
Councillor Ron Shepherd, portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities, added: “We will not tolerate people littering and leaving the place a mess. Enforcement officers have returned to duties and are patrolling busy areas including Cleethorpes beach and will issue fixed penalty tickets to those littering. In the last two weeks since restarting patrols, 26 people have been fined for littering and 20 have been fined for littering from their vehicle.”
On the beach litter, Laura said: “I’ve never seen so many glass bottles and I really don’t want children or dogs cutting themselves. The mess is just disgusting. I have lived here my whole life and people should be ashamed of themselves. Take your bottles and litter home with you.”
Jamie added: “We live in the area and take great pride in being from Grimsby and Cleethorpes. I do a lot of running so get to see a lot of the area, so it really annoys me when we see instances like this. It wasn’t so much that litter had been left, it’s the fact there was a bin so close and they have gone out of their way to smash bottles and dump metal cannisters.
“We all know the impact we as humans are having on the planet and in particular the oceans, so to see this mess was heart-breaking. Sam feels the same. He lives on the Cleethorpes Country Park and he gets really annoyed when the same happens there. We also have dogs and the danger to them and others was just too much to ignore.”
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