As part of our lockdown litter campaign, we wrote to the four leaders of the Black country local authorities. The letter can be read here.
I am very pleased to report a very positive response from Councillor Ian Brookfield of Wolverhampton, who is the first to respond. There are some very encouraging statements from him here, and the direction that the City Council have taken is to be welcomed.
He responded;
“Dear Mr Ian Carroll
Thank you for your email dated 30 July 2020.
I have now had opportunity to discuss the content of your email with my team and wish confirm to you our support for your lockdown litter campaign, furthermore we are happy to display the campaign leaflet in our notice boards at the sites where fishing is permitted.
As a Council we are determined to tackle all aspects of environmental crime, anti-social and to uphold the protection provided to animals, plants and habitats under our control in accordance with the Wildlife and Countryside Act and working collaboratively with our stakeholders and communities. Only last month, working with key internal and external stakeholders such as the Anti-social behaviour team, Neighbourhood Policing Team, local fishermen, RSPB and the Environment Agency, tackling several issues of anti-social behaviour, animal cruelty and illegal fishing at Rocket Pool. Our own Ranger and Countryside Service has increased the patrols around our waterbodies, including Rocket Pool and Ladymoor Pool, during COVID-19 lockdown.
We will continue to build on this and work with our neighbouring Authorities in the Black Country and other stakeholders to share best practice and further improve our management and enforcement powers of our waterbodies.
Kind regards
Councillor Ian Brookfield
Leader of the City of Wolverhampton Council
Labour Councillor for Fallings Park”
This is a great response, and probably the best that one could hope for. It is also good to see a politician true to their word, as our leaflet is now displayed in the notice board at The Rocket pool site, and it is clear that some effort has been made in recent times to improve some of the drab surroundings.
We hope that the other three leaders will also respond in a similar vein, but Councillor Brookfield has certainly led the way here. There are three other bins waiting to be locked down, but as for Wolverhampton…
