Shock tactics on street cleaning

Street cleaning will be removed for a week

Regular street sweeping in an East Lothian town has been suspended in an attempt to shock residents into not dropping litter.

Rubbish will be allowed to build up in Tranent town centre for a week.

The council said it intended to roll the initiative out across its other main towns and to "draw on community spirit to beat the menace of litter".

It said it was an innoative way of getting the message over to the public about the scale of street littering.

Clean streets

The council's principal amenity officer Stuart Pryde said: "I think it will go one of two ways.

"The good people of Tranent will recognise their responsibilities and we'll have nice clean streets for a week.

"Alternatively we will have an image of just how bad the problem is and be able to use that to drum the nessage home."

For the first week, sweeping staff in Tranent will limit their jobs to emptying bins, clearing broken glass and removing other dangerous items.

At the end of that week it is hoped that a Tranent & Elphinstone Community Council-led litter picking exercise will take place.

I take pride in my town... I'd like to think everybody else could Bob Gordon Street cleaner

The following week will see a high volume of litter warden patrols at lunchtimes, with various activities designed to enforce litter legislation.

Additional bins may be placed in the town centre during the week if it is found the public respond to the initiative positively.

Bob Gordon, a street cleaner in Tranent, said he often spent so much time on the high street that he could often not get to other areas.

He said: "Chip papers, crisp bags, food, broken glass. You'd like to think people would take a wee bit of notice.

"I take pride in my town. I'd like to think everybody else could."