Shropshire Star

Community action team praised for 'brilliant' job in helping to tidy up area of Telford

Telford & Wrekin Council’s new community action team strategy to help tidy up an area of the borough during August has been “brilliant”, according to residents.

Published
Last updated
Members of Telford & Wrekin Council’s new community action team

In addition to the scheduled day-to-day street cleansing and grounds maintenance planned in Woodside for the month, a new community action team was mobilised as part of the council's Pride in Our Community work to pick up extra jobs that were raised during a recent neighbourhood walkabout.

Clearing weeds from footpaths, cutting back overgrown shrubs and overhanging trees and clearing parking bays were just some of the jobs done by idverde’s team.

Altogether, they carried out 49 extra jobs in August, with another five completed since then.

Ward councillors were particularly concerned about fly-tipping, so the cleansing and enforcement teams pitched in to help by removing and investigating fly-tips and abandoned vehicles.

More than 100 fly-tips were removed and checked for evidence and nine abandoned vehicles investigated, leading to seven fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping and two notices for the vehicles.

Highways maintenance crews completed 2,160m² of road resurfacing, 11,500m² of footway maintenance works and laid 350m² of flexible paving.

Concerns

The waste and recycling team went out talking to residents about bin collections and removed 28 abandoned bins and returned another 13 that had been left out by their owners.

The private sector housing team were also out visiting privately renting tenants to hear their concerns.

One local resident said: “They are doing a great job.

"They are doing brilliant. It looks a lot different now, cleaner and more tidy.”

Local councillors Rae Evans and Kelly Middleton had positive feedback from residents too.

Councillor Middleton said: “You can really see the difference. The work on the parking bays has been very well received.

"Our thanks to everyone who has helped.”

In addition to the work of teams on the ground, the council launched a best front garden competition, with shopping vouchers as prizes, kindly donated by its grounds and cleansing contractor idverde.

Councillor Lee Carter, Telford & Wrekin Council cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: “Our mission is to create a better borough, and the feedback from residents in Woodside is really good to hear.

"The garden competition was also a nice chance for green-fingered residents to show off their lovely front gardens. Well done to the winners.

“Matt and Andy and all the teams have worked really hard and have done a fantastic job.

"I hope we can look at rolling out this approach to other areas.”