Brighton councillors seek long-term solution for A27 litter
Councillor McNair called for a long-term strategy to fund and execute sustainable litter clearing
The A27 is awash with litter, a councillor said, as he called for a better solution to keeping the verges clear alongside the Brighton bypass.
Conservative councillor Alistair McNair said that he recognised the efforts of community campaigners who had drawn attention to the continued presence of copious quantities of litter beside the trunk road.
And he noted the challenges faced by Brighton and Hove City Council in planning and paying for short-term road-closures “to facilitate clear-ups” in liaison with National Highways which is responsible for trunk roads.
Councillor McNair called for council officials to draw up a report setting out proposals for a long-term strategy to fund and execute sustainable litter clearing.
He said that among the most common complaints that he and his fellow Patcham ward councillors heard from residents was the volume of rubbish along the A27.
At a meeting of the full council on Thursday (7 April) Councillor McNair said that he went to inspect the road with fellow ward councillors Anne Meadows and Carol Theobald.
They found the A27 awash with litter, he told the meeting at Hove Town Hall.
He said: “We could hardly find an area without it. Plastic bottles, face masks, sheets of plastic, sweet wrappers … you name it.
“In Brighton, I don’t know whether more people are paddling in the sea or paddling in the litter. It’s not just the A27. It’s everywhere.
“We are fortunate it’s not higher than ankles because of the volunteers and community groups who spend their evenings and weekends cleaning parks, pavements and roads.”
Labour councillor Gary Wilkinson said that the council should ask the government to transfer responsibility for cleaning the A27 to National Highways. Green and Labour councillors backed his request.
He said: “Councils receive no funding for clearing verges and have to pay National Highways’ contractors for the necessary road closures. The current system simply does not work.
“Brighton and Hove City Council needs to co-ordinate with National Highways’ contractors for litter picks to take place during other maintenance work.
“Cleaning operations are usually limited to night-time working only, which means councils have to make plans to adjust routine maintenance schedules as work can only be done at night or early morning on weekends.”
He said that the council should work with National Highways to create a litter-clearing timetable for now – and officials should prepare a report for the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee on a long-term strategy.
Green councillor Jamie Lloyd said: “The amount of rubbish generated at the roadside is deeply depressing.
“I think that is another reason why we need to look at a society with less traffic and roads in it. It would generate a lot less rubbish.”
He told councillors that workers were litter picking along the A27 on Wednesday and Thursday the previous week. Last year, they collected seven tons of rubbish along the stretch between Patcham and Hollingbury.
Conservative councillor Carol Theobald said: “It’s important to remember Brighton and Hove’s unitary boundary extends into the South Downs – and the council needs to take responsibility for its land.
“People forget that the boundary of the city goes right up beyond the A27, into farmland and into the South Downs National Park.”