Play area litterbugs are causing safety risk for children (From Warrington Guardian)

Play area litterbugs are causing safety risk for children

LITTERING is putting the safety of children in parts of Moulton at risk, according to concerned village residents.

Letters have been sent to Moulton Parish Council from villagers expressing their concerns about the issue and councillors themselves have attempted to tackle it directly.

At the parish council's January meeting, Clr Pauline Vernon described how she had spent more than an hour brushing broken glass from under the slide and in the safety matting at the village play area.

She said: "I collected two carrier bags full of beer bottles - not including cans.

"I was just frightened of children coming out of school, going down the slide and coming off the end and into glass."

The women of Moulton's WI have also been hard at work to try to reduce the amount of litter accumulating in the village.

Moulton WI secretary Jill Newsom said: "It's absolutely disgraceful.

"My husband and I and one other spent a whole morning and collected seven bags full of litter from the playing field - and we still couldn't get all of it.

"My husband's 82 and I'm 73, but we just couldn't bear to see it and it's dangerous."

Jill said that more volunteers were needed to really keep the amount of litter down.

She said: "The WI sees litter-picking as an ongoing community challenge, but it's more than we can tackle.

"Maybe half a dozen volunteers would make it easier - people complain about the litter but are not willing to put their money where their mouth is."

She also thinks more bins are needed in the village to encourage people not to drop litter, which is something provided for in plans for a major upgrade of the village playing fields due to begin in the spring.

gbebbington@guardiangrp.co.uk