Birmingham Councilor calls for litter reforms

A member of Birmingham City Council has called for reforms on how the council handles litter and littering.  

During a Meeting of the Council a member of the Scrutiny Business Report, Councillor Bridle, criticised the lack of forward progress made, “The council needs to be a learning organisation."

The Councillor feels an alternate approach to littering is needed in Birmingham, “In Wigan they actually have what I think is needed here, a litter prevention strategy.  

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood

Since the start of 2022 over 20,000 pieces of litter have been dropped in Birmingham. (Link)

Bridle continued, “We spent far too much time clearing up people’s litter and not enough in what they do, Wigan, which is a high profile, proactive piece of work on stopping people from dropping it in the first place. 

“So much more work with schools in a coordinated and proactive way.” 

The backbencher cites a success Birmingham has made in tackling fly tipping, Grime Watch, “We got that idea from listening and learning from Barking and Dagenham Council.” 

However, the Councillor for Glebe Farm and Tile Cross feels more work needs to be done, “We heard, for example, from Derby that they wanted to bring together their housing cleaning and their street cleaning all in one service.  

“What a good idea.” 

Despite the bankruptcy Birmingham City Council is going through, Councillor Bridle offered no indication as to how any reforms would be financed and declined to comment further.