Blackpool beach cleaners inspired by David Attenborough

Now aged 32, he still goes out every day on the sands between North and South Piers picking up detritus left behind by the town’s hordes of visitors.

But now his mission to keep our shores clean has won wider recognition – including the support of Blackpool Council and the backing of hoteliers group StayBlackpool.

The latter has just provided 15 blue vests for the litter pickers to wear, emblazoned with their title – the Big Blackpool Beach Clean.

Steven, who works as a DJ, said: “I have been cleaning the beaches since I was 13. I was inspired by David Attenborough as I was worried about the impact of litter on the environment and would just go out on my own to pick up rubbish.

“I live here and want our beaches to be clean. After a busy tourist day I can easily pick up four bags of rubbish.”

The group has about 500 members, with a core of four or five going out daily to clean up, joined by others at different times.

Steven added: “Over the years I’ve found all kinds of strange things from dead sheep, dead penguins to oil drums and scaffolding poles.”

One of the main concerns currently is the netting from children’s bucket and spade sets which is regularly discarded.

Mandy Hall, who has joined Steven daily to litter pick while on furlough from her job as a hospitality housekeeper, said: “These nets are really dangerous for wildlife which get caught up in them.

“So we plan to leaflet the shops which sell them, and speak to business owners to ask them to unclip the nets when they sell the bucket and spade sets.”

Blackpool Council is supporting the group by providing equipment and leaflets to hand out.

On the busiest days, volunteers have collected 34 bin bags of rubbish during their trawl of the beach.

They hope having the vests will give the volunteers more visibility.

Mandy said: “We’re really grateful for the support we have had from the council, but we want to make it clear we are volunteers.

“We have had great feedback from members of the public, both residents and visitors. Some residents have joined us on litter picks, while visitors are grateful to us for what we do.”

Shirley Hunt, of StayBlackpool, said they had wanted to support the scheme because a clean beach is vital for everyone.

She said: “If people took their litter home with them, or used the many bins there are, we wouldn’t need this scheme.

“But unfortunately they don’t and it’s really important Blackpool has clean beaches so we felt this was a good cause to support.”

Many residents were upset recently when tourists left piles of rubbish on Blackpool seafront following the first easing of lockdown measures.

Coun Jim Hobson, Blackpool Council’s cabinet member for environment and climate change, said most coastal towns had the same experience.

He said: “This wasn’t unique to Blackpool. Every coastal town complained about how visitors treated the beaches.

“We are taking extra measures in the next few weeks as the weather warms up.

“We will have someone on a quad bike with a trailer and a loudspeaker asking people to use the bins, so no-one will have an excuse to drop litter.

“It’s fantastic to see a community led initiative like the Big Blackpool Beach Clean getting so many people involved.

“The council is supporting this group in any way we can including by providing equipment and leaflets.”