Why does the UK stop caring for its surroundings?

[Nutmuncher]

As a frequent visitor to my local city I’ve seen the last few years of rapid growth and development of the city centre, lots of huge new spaces and public domains have been created, lovely planters etc. It seems though that once the things are built that’s it, they’re just left to rot away and no one seems to care for them.

There’s a glass bridge near the Cathedral for example which must be around 10 years old, the glass has probably never been cleaned covered in algae, the pavements covered in gum, graffiti and litter on either side of it. It perhaps gets the occasional stop by a street cleaner but no proper cleaning.

Surely there’s a role for a team of people to clean public spaces regularly, like actually going around scraping stickers off lamp posts, removing graffiti, replanting planters? Why do we just build things then leave them unkept to rot away? It would have a huge impact on the feel and aesthetics of our surroundings yet is so far down the priority list nothing gets done.

Is it such a bad idea? I do think there’s scope for potentially offering this as a form of ‘paid’ benefits work for those who wanted to do it. There must be a way of mobilising those unemployed who could be able to do this?

Also the many many let properties have crap front gardens

People don't look after things anymore and I don't know the reason why. It's such a shame, because we're all miserable as it is and some flowers might cheer us all up slightly!
I remember when I was a child there were what I assume to be council staff, sweeping and cleaning pavements. Then there used to be road sweepers aswell. Never, ever see that anymore.

Councils need to start fining the able who neglect and litter.
It is an attitude issue overall but as you can’t magic intrinsic motivation in grown up people, habits can be helped by fining/ stricter rules.

I know that councils are short of money but it always seem to be such a poor leadership and how they spend the money. I am sure it's so much more complex than I realise but when my council for instance spend I assume a significant amount of money on signs and paintings on the ground to discourage people to dropping chewing gums. "Bin your gum" Something is very wrong. At the same time they have removed quite a few bins. I assume because they haven't got the resources to empty them. Where is the joined up thinking? What is the rationale?

I could go on, money spent on speed bumps where they are not needed while there are big pot holes right next to them

Installing a bus lane in a one way street where there was no need and disrupting traffic even more

People suing schools for their darlings falling over in the play ground

I joined a local volunteer group and pick up litter every few weeks. There are no timetables to do this, just when the volunteers have time. The group does organise larger group picks as well but again, these are not compulsory.

I also work almost full time and have children. So it’s just fitting it in.

Perhaps you could start similar in your local area? The council provide a litter pick, bags and bag opener/ carrier thing.

Imagine if every street had a few people doing this. Shouldn’t have to of course, but take action rather than moan.

Councils don’t have the money to pay for the upkeep because the cost of social care is so incredibly high and using up most of the cash.

Thankfully my area is kept beautiful through volunteer groups… but it’s a bit wealthy area with lots of non working folk who want to give back and socialise. Poorer area people don’t have the time as they’re working all hours or more likely to be infirm in retirement (due to manual labour jobs, poorer nutrition through life, lower education levels, higher smoking/drinking rates etc).

When i was young ( many decades ago) i had a Saturday job in a coffee shop/ Every morning before we opened we had to sweep the pavement outside from the shop window to the road , all the shops on the street done the same. These days you have to wade through litter to get in the shop doors.

Thank you to everyone who litter picks voluntarily. It really does make a huge difference.

@PrizedPickledPopcorn Thank you for doing stuff for your community - you're one of the good guy. It's so satisfying and easy to make a bit of a difference. If everyone did it the world would be a different and better place.

I think it’s a combination of factors.

Certainly the lack of maintenance budgets/funding/planning is a problem that I’ve come up against. I’m a garden designer, and twice now I’ve had my arm twisted to design and implement sensory gardens for a preschool and a primary school.

Both times the money for plants and materials was fundraised for by the children/PTA. Both times I pressed the issue of a maintenance plan and budget. I was assured there would be volunteers and ongoing fundraising. This did not materialise for either project. Both times, once the project was completed with great fanfare, attention shifted to other priorities. Nobody wanted to fund maintenance. Volunteers fell away. The gardens were not maintained. Plants died and/or were damaged and not replaced, and weeds took over. People despaired about the mess, but nobody wanted to actually do anything.

I no longer get involved with such projects.

I'd be happy to pay more to make society and the environment better for everyone. I know from my experience and from what I've read on here that I'm not alone.

The thing is, some areas aren’t ‘owned’ by individuals. That’s where it makes sense to litter pick in volunteer groups.
Areas where we live we should clean as we go. if we all look after the 10m on each side of our house, the place would be spotless!

I don't think paying our way out of everything helps it needs a combination. I am going to walk my dog now and will collect up other people's dog poo and litter. I am also the only person on my road that sweeps the pavement outside my house. I have the time now but in the past I was very busy and still kept the front of my house and road tidy.

If people didn't rush off on holiday and spent their money in their local community this would have a massive impact on our day to day quality of life.

I was interested in which tax brackets should pay more?

I wouldn’t go by mn posts too much, if Labour thought the appetite for higher taxes was there they wouldn’t have sold in fully costed and fully funded at GE and reacted to mention of higher taxes so vociferously.

If people do want to pay more as you do they would have run on it.

It's a funny world when people are happy to complain about the NHS, potholes, litter, no dentists etc etc but don't want to pay taxes to fund them.

I don't know the answer.

For everyone wanting to pay more tax, there’s nothing stopping you. You can just send a cheque to HMRC. George Osborne mentioned this on the EMQs. I’ll let them know to expect your cheque?

Shops used to be owned by local people who cleaned their shop fronts. Now it seems it’s huge property and land owning investment companies who have no interest in the pavement outside

A couple of things; you can voluntarily pay more as in pp, and in the countries you mention lower and middle earners pay more.

Do you think lower and middle earners have the capacity for higher taxes?

This.

Another penny tax on the pound would cost someone earning £60k p.a. about £450 pa. Someone on £30k would pay less than £200 p.a. more.

So my answer to your question is almost certainly some people in that bracket have the capacity for higher taxes.

There's no point complaining about stuff if you're not willing to do something about it in terms of paying more, volunteering or campaigning for improvements.

Doing one or two of those will make things better.

Andrew Carnegie was the world's richest man 125 years ago.

He gave away 90% of his fortune and built 2,509 libraries whilst he was alive.

Philanthropy today -
Bezos < 3%
Musk <1%

Ok so people on £60k should pay more tax. Where are you on the housing ladder out of interest, and with childcare fees?

Because they take up a lot for people trying to buy a first house and do nursery.

People ARE paying ever increasing amounts of tax, but aren't seeing any benefit - they're just seeing waste and inefficiency. Turn that around and people will be more likely to accept higher taxes IF they see improvements in public services and less waste/inefficiency.

It's easy to dictate that OTHER people pay more tax. Is there the same enthusiasm for higher taxes at lower income levels, that affect EVERYONE including those advocating for others to pay more? No I thought not!