Time to bin our littering habits writes Andy Mitchell

Too often you see stuff thrown from passing cars...takeaway boxes, plastic bottles and the like, even along the Promenade. What on earth do they think they’re doing?

The council has a big enough job trying to keep this place tidy as it is. Yet we could all do our bit to help.... and so could they.

Not feeding the seagulls and the pigeons is an obvious starting point. What used to be an occasional treat to chuck the odd chip at a cute seagull within range of your lunch has evolved into feeding time at Jurassic Park with these pseudo overweight pterodactyls swooping down at every opportunity to terrorise people on the Prom.

The problem here is that the gulls have been brought up on a constant diet of fast food remains.... a non-stop banquet of chips and discarded chicken bones. These are the boxes that we aren’t disposing of properly, choosing instead to chuck them anywhere or leave them on benches etc.

Getting on top of the litter problem is one of those fundamental niceties of society that seems to have missed a generation. I was walking through town last summer enjoying an ice lolly. I got to the end of it and Miss Muschamp’s instruction from 1968 at Westcliff School was ringing in my ear: “Find a bin for your lolly stick”

It’s so easy... yet for so many it’s an ordeal to even contemplate not making the place look like Bristol Avenue tip. At the start of the 2020 season we all need a reality check of what is and isn’t acceptable.

We all need a Miss Muschamp moment. We also need to stop feeding the damn gulls, and the council needs to provide us with more bins. Everyone has their role to play.

There’s far too much investment going into this town for it all to be undermined by something as obvious as not chucking rubbish around the place.

More fines and more deterrents are needed.... oh and did I mention it, more, larger bins.