To be upset our town is so run down now?

[Blueybanditbingochilli]

Day off with my kids (toddler and 5 year old) so thought I would take them to the park for a picnic. It’s a walk I’ve done a thousand times this year, yet today it really sank in what a dump our town now is.

About 3 or 4 times on the (short) walk, we had to detour into the road as the weeds and hedges by the pavement are so overgrown they’re literally impassable.

Rubbish, nappies and disposable vapes lying in the road/walkways. There was a kind of ‘tide’ of rubbish against the wall adjacent to the path - crisp packets, tissues, cigarette ends.

Just before we got there I felt something squelch in my flip flops (yep), looked down and clearly some dog poo had somehow flicked into my shoe and I had trodden it in 🤮 it sounds funny but it really isn’t when it happens to you! There was loads of dog poo in general that I constantly had to remind DC1 to avoid.

It just looks so run down. I understand councils have had cuts but this isn’t a little bit worse, it’s a lot worse. Where is all the money going? I honestly can’t see where it’s being spent because the entire town is a dump. Of course I blame the Tories (and know it’ll take time for things to improve yada yada) but honestly it looks like we have no council at all.

Just a rant!

Your not being unreasonable but council budgets are massively stretched.

Of course, a large proportion of the British public could help by not being disgusting slobs leaving litter and cigarette ends lying about, and cleaning up after their dog. However, I can’t see that happening somehow.

A lot of places locally to us look really scruffy and just a bit of a shit tip. Locally all the council say is it is "rewilding" (including the local cemeteries that have got so overgrown people can't actually see the gravestones anymore) and everyone knows it is down to money and the fact they can spend more on vanity projects when they don't have to do basics like weeding and cutting grass.

Our little road get together and we all weed our road along the edges and do litter picks. The next road along looks awful in comparison. I think also people think if the council don't care then why should they and it just gets worse and worse.

I weed outside my house but public alleyways and areas should be tackled by the council as they have the equipment to cut down bushes. Weed killer sold in shops is not adequate to kill the amount of weeds in public places . Some alleyways are long .

Our town is awful. The council did a social media post this week showing a ginnel that was impassable because it was so overgrown and how they had made it usable again like they want praise for it. It’s literally their job and all they did was show that they had allowed it to get into such a state in the first place.

I can totally understand leaving the purely cosmetic issues ie graffiti - an eyesore but not a risk in any way. But every morning when I walk DC to school (with buggy) we have to walk onto a busy main road to get around massively overgrown shrubs/hedges, and dog poo/rubbish is unsanitary. Some of the residents on my road are getting so fed up with it they put handmade signs up pleading with people to stop letting their dogs shit on our pavements without picking it up.

I think a road litter pick/hedge trim is a good idea and will put something in the road WhatsApp group later but tbh I resent doing it as that’s why I work 40 hours a week to pay council tax!

I just want to know where the money is going as not only do we have the problems listed above but they’ve also boarded up local bins because they can’t arrange to have them emptied.

YANBU OP. I’m visiting family in the town where I grew up. It used to be a popular holiday resort and was considered quite 'special' - lovely gardens, some beautiful buildings, nice shops and just generally a pleasant place to visit.

Tbf it’s been going downhill steadily for a long time but over the last few years it’s declined so badly. Paving slabs erupting and covered in birdshit, buildings crumbling, so many empty, shuttered shops. It looks grim. It’s heartbreaking really. I can’t reconcile it with the way it used to be - and it’s not that I’m viewing it through the mists of memory, I've been going back regularly all my life so I can see how run-down it’s become.

Maybe the grass and weeds shouldn't grow either. We don't have a litter problem but we do have greenery so overgrown that people can't walk on the pavement. On council land not from peoples gardens

Is there anything you can do? Is there a Facebook page where people can organise and attend council meetings? Talk to your local MP etc as an absolute final resort get together with the local residents and sort some of it out yourselves. It sounds disgusting.

Not so long ago, people weren't so entitled to expect someone to pick up rubbish after them. They would keep the environment around them clean and cut and clear. Others would judge you for a dirty doorstep and unswept pavement.

Like a pp, our village does both organised litter picks and additionally various individuals clear litter on their daily walks.

In Germany, famously, you are obligated to keep your environs clean.

Of course councils should do the heavy lifting on bad dumping grounds, but perhaps we need to get back to having pride in our own environs and do our best to keep them clean.

Our miserable council decided to stop all the hanging baskets and planters this year. Everyone complained. Your environment is so important to general health and wellbeing.

It's so incredibly depressing. I'm currently in Munich and it's spotless. The park is full of swimmers and picnickers.

Locally all the council say is it is "rewilding" (including the local cemeteries that have got so overgrown people can't actually see the gravestones anymore)

This is a huge issue in my area as well. Play parks and other areas are completely overgrown to the point of being unusable.

My local area seems to be suffering from this lack of weeding and clearing also. Our local playground is a state. It's really depressing that they aren't doing basic maintenance but the vanity projects mentioned upthread are endless near me!

The problem with over grown public areas such as alleys, one it starts looking like shit people treat it like shit buy fly tipping furniture etc , and just throwing take away boxes and bottles and cans into the mess. Then the take away boxes attract vermin and flies .

Totally agree this is unacceptable.
I cannot abide dog dirt.

Worst ever was the miscreant who let his dog shit on my daughter’s front door mat. She discovered it when rushing out to take her wee ones to school 🤦‍♀️

I remember when my four were small, on any trip to a park someone inevitably walked in it. The lane to the school was particularly bad- I caught an old woman letting her dog do its dirt right outside the school gate and asked her to pick it up. She was horrified. So I invited her to let her dog do it in her own garden- she was even more horrified.
I honestly cannot stand this kind of dog owner. They wouldn’t dirty their own garden but couldn’t care less if a child walks in it. 😡

It just seems so sad that we're going backwards. It surely can't continue - social care budgets and SEND school/school transport budgets are going to need to keep increasing but we can't just forget about everything else that used to be funded. How are other countries managing?

Do you have a local clean-up group ? We have one in my home town, it’s very active. Tesco donates breakfast, bin bags etc some other place donates coffee, council have given them pickers and Hi-viz .. and off they go

Agree with @KnittedCardi .

Litter isn't really the councils fault in that people should take their crap home with them. Same with dog poo, pick it up and dispose of it properly ( not throw the bag in a tree). It's not really someone else's job to pick up after people.I'd rather they just fine the fuck out of everyone caught littering and make them pick litter for a week.

Weeds and overgrown bushes are the councils responsibility and I agree they are all overgrown everywhere. I mean my local neighbour does trim back paths but I see it being a health and safety issue if they get it wrong and someone complains
/ gets hurt etc.

Still loads of blackberries this year because of brambles.

Does anyone else watch Turd Towns on YouTube? It's depressing what's happening , I didnt realise how widespread the decline was

our heavily used park where we lived in east London was filfhy. Huge groups would come picnic and just walk away leaving so much rubbish even nappies. A friend got so fed up she ordered a grabber and one night cleared 4 sacks of rubbish from the children’s playground. I think most councils have an email you can report issues to, worth trying about the overgrown hedges as pushing people into the road is a safety issue.

I think it should be a job, when people volunteer it isn't a long term solution. Or something that able bodied long-term unemployed could do.

@OhMaria2 I watch it, and some similar stuff that youtube winds up recommending me.
It's awful what's happened to far too many places.

“I'd rather they just fine the fuck out of everyone caught littering and make them pick litter for a week.”

I would heartily approve of making those who are caught out not picking up their dog’s dirt being made to pick up other dog’s dirt for a week in addition to a hefty fine.

I agree with this and think actually it's a combination of the two things.

Council budgets slashed.

But also people keep hearing about how run down public services are and I think they've lost pride in their local areas because of this and just don't realise how much they are adding to it. Plus some people are generally disgusting shits anyway!

Added to that disenfranchised people who often don't see the point of keeping areas clean. For reasons mentioned above.

We've lost a huge amount of community spirit and I wonder if it's because people just think they can't solve it and have given up.

We did see a lot of it though after the riots.

To those mentioning their parks, ours is actually ok (fingers crossed) although ‘tired’ but generally people are ok at picking up poo/litter.

I agree morally about fining and litter picking as a punishment but I work in an area where I see just how many people try to evade punishment by using literally any excuse they can. I feel like 70% of people would either not turn up, or use a physical/mental health complaint to say they’re unable to take part. Some will be genuine but there would be an awful lot who wouldn’t be.

I have posted here before about the insane rule that councils can only spend profits from capex projects on…more capex projects.
They should be allowed to spend it on basics like clean streets.

Lots of posters told me I was plain wrong and it’s more important to have yet more unused facilities than to do basic maintenance.

example - we have a new sports centre half a mile from…a sports centre. It’s pretty empty. But the council is so proud of it. The original one is in good condition and busy.