...to not want to see used tampons in the park

[bongohead]

I am hopping mad.

My local park is a beautiful space and the council has spent loads of time and money over the past few years making it really lovely for kids to play in (new playground, sensory park and sports facilities etc) but recently the council (Haringey) have decided to stop cleaning the park.

It is disgusting and unsafe for children to play in.

over the past week the following has been found and nearly picked up by DS (17months):

pooey nappies
broken glass
cigarrette butts in the children's play area
dog poo, obviously
human poo (yes)
all manner of litter
food (happy are the rats of Haringey!)

and this morning the final straw... a used and bloody tampon!

AIBU to expect the council to clean up this mess? really? Bearing in mind that we are forced to pay £133 per month in council tax, which we can barely afford anyway. I am so angry.

The council used to have a team of people who tidied and maintained the park and who were lovely and did a fantastic job but as I understand they were all made redundant or moved on to work on the council estates instead.

This is not good enough. Britain is turning into a rubbish dump, soon only the rats will be left.

I can't imagine Mr Cameron being happy to let his baby play in such a place so why is it ok for us?

Thank you for reading my rant. I would like to write to the council but I doubt that they give a shit.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

It's not the council you should be railing at actually, not unless you'd like to spend even more on council tax to enable them to employ a team of wardens to police the park.

They could cleanse the park twice daily and you'd still see your listed items in there... some people are moronic knuckle-draggers with no respect for where they live or for anybody else.

[CoffeeDog]

Same with our local park... use to be lovley and clean all the time...

Now there is always dog poo smeared down the slides (i am guessing at dog poo as i dont want to think of the alternative) smashed glass bottles rubbish strewn everywhere despite there being ample bins abnd my personal favorite used condoms hanging from the climbing frame. Call the council on the helpline listed at the park and they will 'send someone out...'

We now have a much much longer walk to a decent park - but i havent even seen a blade of grass out of place let alone actual rubbish there!!

[Blu]

People are indeed disgusting.
And of course it is not acceptable to withdraw cleaning from the park. People will behave in a disgusting manner, but I thought it was well documented that filth attracts filth, valdalism attracts more vandalism etc - and so regular cleaning would prevent an escapation of the mess and filth.

But I don't think tampons are a final straw in the context of shit, to be honest. Bad, but pooey nappies or just poo seem to be the worst for hygeine, smell etc

[ApocalypseCheeseToastie]

Can't really blame the council tbh, some people are just utter scum

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

YY Blu, but that cleaning has to be funded from somewhere. Council budgets are really being severely cut, so where's it going to come from?

[bongohead]

CoffeeDog, that's awful, condoms on the climbing frame...

LyingWitch (cool name btw) you are right, the people around here are crap, I even know of a family who lets their kids poo in the playground...before they steal scooters but the park used to be nice, the park warden did a smashing job but now he is not there and it is awful.

There's not much I can do about filthy people but I do pay over the odds for council tax and have a right to expect that they do something in return for that money.

In Australia there used to be a big problem with litter. The govt introduced a hefty $200 on the spot fine for any littering. now there is none. Surely the councils can fund their staff this way. Haringey in particular would be rich beyond their wildest dreams judging from the state of the place.

[TheBigJessie]

Organise a community clear-up, maybe?

[TakeMeDrunkImHome]

In some respects, especially around where I live, I feel almost sorry for the council workers. They spent a lot of money on "doing up" the parks complete with new play areas, lovely purpose built buildings full up cute furry animals, sensory gardens etc. It isn't the council who are responsible for the dog shit, the condoms, the beer cans and the smashed bottles. To quote LyingWitch, it is the moronic knuckle draggers who spoil things for the majority.

[bongohead]

So what can anyone do about filthy people then? If you tell them off they get violent. If I were rich I would move to some nice fluffy neighbourhood where all the people put rubbish in the bins and leave 'only footprints' but sadly this is all I can afford...

Last weekend there was a family having a birthday party in the park for one of their kids, Monday morning all the rubbish was still there (and I mean all of it, not one scrap had been moved) its just like the just stood up and walked away from it. WTF goes through their minds? These kids will never have any respect for their environment.

[pinkthechaffinch]

Just to compare, we live in a small town in North Dorset, where there are 2 large recs, both of which are cleaned by the council every other day, whether it needs it or not [litter picking]

I have lived in Haringey and I agree it is disgusting that in such a deprived borough the council are making such cuts. They certainly aren't in other parts of the country.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

The only thing for it, asalready mentioned by BigJessie, is community involvement. Not just a clear-up but an ongoing monitoring programme where it's made so uncomfortable for litterers/foulers that they comply rather than face very public outrage.

I recall a lady who instigated this for her tower block and then went around the country trying to replicate it. She seemed to have some success too. I can't remember her name but that kind of thing could work if the residents adopted their park with the blessing/help of the council.

It's the only thing that WILL work. I worked for the council a long time ago and recall seeing a street being cleansed in the morning with a new machine, which was being trialled. It was left beautifully clean. By the afternoon, it was full of dog poo and litter. It's not the cleansing that's at fault, it's the mentality of the morons who think they have the right to foul. Litter wardens are funded from the fines generated in many councils, but there are obvious limitations there as the wardens work singly and are at risk of being abused and assaulted. Also... if somebody is going to lie about their name/address or just run off, what can be done?

I don't live near any public parks but I really do sympathise, bongohead. If you have the time/inclination, that letter to the council could be one asking for a meeting to tackle this problem and perhaps form a residents' group? I'm sure the council would give you as many resources as the group needed to pull this together. Perhaps if you didn't have time yourself, somebody else in your neighbourhood may be thinking along the same lines as you.

[bongohead]

...dogs poo in the middle of the grass, humans tend to hide away....

[bigkidsdidit]

It's horrid, isn't it, litter makes me so depressed. I saw a woman a couple of weeks ago throw an empty coke can from her car window and I despaired.

The only thing to do, I think, is get involved, as others have said. Keep Britain tidy run big tidy ups which I'm looking into. And now whenever I see someone leave stuff on the tube I give it back to them and more often than not they look sheepish and take it. So I think starting a campaign to keep the park clean and to get everyone involved in doing it is the only way.

But I share your frustration!

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

PinktheChaffinch... Take those two areas, Haringey and North Dorset, for example. They are completely different in terms of demographic and the usage of public spaces is doing to be quite different also.

Haringey is a London Borough, green space is at a premium, heavy usage, dense population and fairly deprived area with insufficient resources to cope with demand. North Dorset generally is semi-rural, affluent with large semi-retirement population. Public spaces are abundant and not heavily used in comparison to those of an urban borough. In a nutshell, the resources of Haringey are over-subscribed, whilst in North Dorset, the same budget-stretching pressure just doesn't exist.

It does seem unfair that budgets from Central Government are set per capita, with maybe just a few adjustments in favour of transient population, but woefully insufficient for deprived/heavily used areas of the country where targetted applications of resources is desperately needed. :(

[bongohead]

The council owns the park I think, therefore has a responsibility to maintain it.

Yes you are right about the people who litter in the first place. What kind of woman throws bloody tampons on the grass in the middle of a park?!!?!? In a perfect world people would exercise personal responsibility and not need other people to pick up after them but the reality is that they just don't give a shit (unless you mean actual shit which they give quite liberally)

[Lainey1981]

Yabu, what else is the local bike going to do with her used san pro when the urge for unexpected quickie against a tree takes hold? Don't want to ruin the moment looking for a bin do you?

[GeraldineAubergine]

I just can't imagine a scenario where I could whip a tampon out in a park without being a) spotted and b) arrested. This would never happen to a mooncup user I bet.

[bongohead]