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!

@Inkyblue123 one of my neighbours emptied the contents of his car into a carrier bag then left it in our private car park (that we are all responsible for) and drove over it a couple times leaving rubbish everywhere. Everyone was pissed off and cleaned it up but by bit. I saw him do it again the other day, so this time I picked the bag up and dumped it on top of his bin in yhe front garden, he took the hint and hasn't done it since.

I live in the NE and it’s truly depressing. Pot holes and weeds everywhere and the council do nothing

Are you in the South East @Blueybanditbingochilli ?

No, south coast!

Depends on the council. Our town is exactly like the OP describes (maybe it's the same one 😂), and the council is pleading poverty while wasting millions on consultants for projects that never get started, "consultations" on 20mph speed limits that nobody wants, and building cycle lanes that literally nobody uses.

Corrupt as fuck, they are.

If it's the Sussex coast I'm not surprised - some previously well kept, clean areas there have gone very downhill recently, it saddens me when I see it.

Our council has said that they’re so skint they can fund health and social care and bin emptying, and nothing else. We can’t drive down our close without overhanging branches of trees scraping the car. They come down to about 3 feet off the ground. We’ve got pot holes like craters, litter everywhere, it’s so utterly depressing. There are teams of volunteers doing their best with the litter but it’s a needle in a haystack. Yet you visit some areas and it’s like a different world, everything still clean and well-tended.

Are you in BCP area? Not surprised if you are.

Our local town is rough. We only go there occasionally.

Surely the majority of your complaint should be citizens littering and no community pride? Why should council tax be spent on clearing litter people have thrown out?

Agree- think it’s many things but mostly councils bankrupt and often use the excuse of sustainability to not use weed killer etc. But they are totally stretched for money so I suppose they have their own priorities- but I do think if the town looks neat it effects positively literally everything
Alsio think people have changed- I was a child in the 70’s and my mum (a single mum and working full time) would still, along with our neighbours mow and tidy that bit of lawn which is between the pavement and the road if the council left it a couple of weeks too long. There would be a sense of shame if things didn’t look neat and people seem to care less, or care less to do it themselves.

Are you I. Portsmouth OP?

I live near the Sussex coast. Parts are not really inviting. I feel sorry for some of the people who come on holiday.

Someone's got to do it. Unless you're going to employ a small army of council officials on the street to prosecute everyone dropping litter.

There could be some significant truth in that.

It's "rewilding". Something they curiously never do outside the council offices.

If everyone cleaned their own drive, the pavement in front of their house and the road in front, that'll help.
More dog wardens.
Dog licenses.
More cameras.
Cats can't roam - catios in garden only type cats.

That was my thought too.
I'm unlucky enough to be a resident in the BCP area too 🙄

I thought BCP was supposed to be quite nice? I know Bournemouth has issues being more of a cheap holiday resort place but Christchurch I imagine as genteel and Poole full of second home money with boats.....

The council are just wasting tax payers money, the road works and cycle lanes are causing mayhem and the place looks an absolute shit hole doesn't it? Topped with the stabbings/bottle attacks and everything else on top as the police only care about nabbing motorists it just gets worse and worse.

Poole has some areas that are the some of the most deprived in the country! Child poverty is a real issue in some areas. We also have the third highest (excl london) house price to wage calculation. People are struggling here in a big way. And you can bet that sandbanks, canford cliffs, Branksome park areas don't have streets full of rubbish and weeds as the council do still do stuff there. They waste money on public referendums and then ignore the result when it doesn't go there way.

I know we all pay council tax etc but i hear what your saying op and yes the country is in the shit (down to imo poor money management by the people in power). The only thing you could do is get onto the council, take photos and call them out on social media with the state of the place. Also, you could organise a litter picking team. We have them in my local area and they do a great job

My town was getting like this but in lockdown a bunch of very nice people started tidying the place up. A group of garden enthusiasts plant flowers in verges, and have hung hanging baskets all over town. A local window cleaner power washes street signs and graffiti. Someone else goes into the woods with a bin bag and picks up litter. There is a monthly street litter pick. A very buff fella has taken it upon himself to unclog drains. A retired man offers to do tip runs for people who can’t. The scrap man arrives within minutes of an appliance being left outside.

Locals are happy to fundraise for extra things like bins, and the primary schools have got involved with litter picking sessions near schools which hopefully will teach kids not to drop rubbish. There are still problems - potholes, too many barbers and crap shops, bored teenagers etc - but the town is generally really tidy.

’I’m starting with the man in the mirror’. Last week me and several neighbours weeded the street. A local group also meets once a month to tidy the local public areas, plant seeds etc.

People need to take pride in where they live. Even the poorest of places can look ok if it’s kept tidy, but everyone capable has to pitch in.

I also think community service for offenders should be used more instead of prison e.g tidying up cemeteries, repainting park equipment etc.

The fault lies on both sides in my town. Council is out of money (managed exceptionally poorly), so all the extras have been lost. Some of the people moving into the borough over the last 5 years have exceptionally questionable morals and low standards. There is no enforcement of anything apart from parking fines.
It is a constant fight between those people that want a decent place to live and are prepared to volunteer and those that destroy it.

One example of this is for years people campaigned to tidy up the parks for all children to use. And within two weeks of them being reopened some local riff raff graffitied all over the new equipment and ripped it apart.
It is disheartening and each time we fall to a new low more and more people leave.

We are literally a town of two halves and all you can do is work hard and move into the better side.