Warsop Web - Positively Speaking current topic

Positively Speaking - for people who are proud to live in Warsop and would like to iron out its little creases!

Current Topic being discussed New on 25th March 04 - THE OLD PART----demolition or regeneration ?
This is fast becoming a much talked about issue down the old part. People who have lived here all there lives soon have to find new homes. This is going to split a whole community. Surely it would be better to restore and repair some of the streets instead of complete demolition, so that friends and family can continue to live where they choose. - E.Holland

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Previous Topics

Local Crime - 27th January 2003 - I read with interest your letters from residents in warsop. with regards to litter I wholely agree something needs to be done about it, unfortunatly it's a country wide problem, but more important perhaps is the issue of policing our streets. Recently there have been a number of burglarys around the clumber street area.perhaps more VISUAL police on the street ie pounding the beat would in a small way deter these low lifes. I live in hope. - A warsop resident

Should fireworks be banned? Should there be restrictions on sales and how should this be policed?

31st October 2003 - The last night of October and my pets and I cringe as another mini bomb explodes nearby. It has been going on for weeks, day and night, one blast after another. What really rankles about this annual ritual is that the perpetrators of this nuisance do not work for a living. When a family can start letting off bangers and rockets at 8 a.m and countinue on into the evening without ever having spent a day in gainful employment says a lot for the welfare system. These people will be making decent people's lives miserable straight through into the New Year on the proceeds of largesse supplied by tax payers who are misguided enough to believe that to acquire one's needs one should work.

Nothing wrong in helping the needy, but doling out cash to be squandered on fireworks is a crime against responsible citizens. Every year we hear calls for restrictions on the sale of fireworks to the general public. What is really needed is a licencing system that restricts such sales to people who can afford them out of their own pockets and not from state hand-outs. Then we might find autumn and the run up to Christmas a more pleasant prospect to look forward to. Robert T

What can we do to stop our streets and public places being fouled by dog dirt?

23 January 2004 - Well one thing I can never understand is why dog owner´s can´t show a bit of desency and pick up the dirt the dog made. I used to live in Warsop, Edward street from 56-67,but I still like to come to Warsop and lookup old times.In those day´s there was dog dirt lying around,so to you dog owner´s shovel up your dog´s dirt. atliw@simnet.is

Dog poop bags are available free from the Town Hall reception.

19 May 03 - Pamela Lannon, formerly of Meden Vale now living in Australia - Here in Australia, we are required, by law, to pick up excrement that has been produced by our dogs, in public places. The council play their part by providing bins in common walking areas. As a result, our streets are clean and so are the soles of our shoes when we get home. Getting the council on your side might be a good place to start. (And if you think Warsop is bad, try dodging it in the streets of Amsterdam.) Good Luck!

10 Jan 03 - Andrew Hawkins - It's one thing being able to voice your opinion but far better to act upon it. I don't mean taking the law into your own hands... I thought if enough people were interested, clean up campaigns could be organised with some idea as to how many people would attend. For example the river Meden......just about everyone who drives through Warsop sees the Carrs and the Mill Dam. Think of Warsop and you conjure up images of either the Church the High Street or the Mill Dam, yet dog mess and rubbish are strewn along it's bank.

I am a dog owner a responsible one who cleans up after them, and the amount of people who don't, infuriates me. Personally I think there are not enough bins. The ones that are in place are overflowing some days. Through the web site and the newspaper, attention could be drawn to these problems and the council should recognise it and do something about it. Use this as a collective voice, pass on certain information to the appropriate parties for them to comment on, and then publish this on the web site and in the paper.

12 Jan 03 - Jenny Sudell - We have a big problem in Meden Vale as well as in Warsop with the "dog poo alley" along the side of the surgery which the children walk along on their way to school. There are no bins here that are used or that are any use as they are all attached to lamposts and our litterers are often at a lower height to the bins. I get sick of dog poo outside our surgery too.

This is the worst form of littering (alongside people who insist on spitting on the pavement) I wheeled through some the other day with my pushchair and it made me sick. No wonder diseases like Tuberculosis are on the increase.

What can be done about the increasing amount of litter in the streets of Warsop? This topic is still open to discussion and your views are very welcome. Anyone wishing to become a member of a support group or action committee to deal with this issue, please contact carol.hill@btinternet.com

From February 2003 Warsop & District News - The 64,000 dollar question – what do we do? The point about shopkeepers (and householders) ensuring their fronts are litter free would be an ideal start. Certainly the shopping area would see a vast improvement if this were to happen.

There is another larger bin provided by funding from the Area Assembly outside the Co-op. It needed emptying today (20th Jan), but observing it previously there was room in it for litter – the trouble being that litter was around it when it should have been in it! And lets not let the kids off lightly! One of the most heavily littered areas in Warsop is – guess where? – Outside the Meden School! So what do we do?

Edwinstowe employ their own team of cleaners and, admitting it is a much smaller area than Warsop, why don’t we? Employ half a dozen persons on a part-time basis, designate one as a co-ordinator and the team could get the town centre right and then spread out to the other parts of the Parish.

Negotiation would need to take place between the District and Parish Councils to make necessary arrangements and apportion the cost. We can all write letters giving our opinions (yes me too) but there comes a time when we should stop talking and start acting – I think that time has arrived! - Brian Smith

From February 2003 Warsop & District News - I found this article regarding litter very interesting. I quite agree that something needs to be done, Warsop, Meden Vale and Church Warsop are an absolute disgrace, we occasionally see a mechanical road sweeper but this machine doesn’t touch the grass verges where most of the litter is! Apparently the road sweeper we see in Warsop has to cover Warsop, Meden Vale and Church Warsop in three days! The rest of the week he has to cover Mansfield Woodhouse. This is hopelessly inadequate. This is an issue that needs to be addressed forcefully, the environmental implications are plain to see, a vote of no confidence in the local and County Councils or an approach to our EEC Representative to try and force the councils to meet their obligations and give street cleaning a higher priority would certainly meet with the approval of all residents in these areas. - D.Armstrong

26 January 2003 - From Charles McLoughlin: E.mail: Cmcl@btinternet.com
I have read the letters about litter and I share the concerns expressed about what is becoming more and more of a problem in our community. I think that much could be achieved by voluntary action. If about 20 people, for example, each give only one hour a week to picking up litter, it will make a difference. Litter encourages more litter. Tidier streets and car parks, etc., will lead others to think that there are people who care about their environment and, hopefully, discourage them from throwing their rubbish into the street. Such voluntary action will not take much organising. We just need to get people together initially to agree on the areas to be covered, and then individuals can get on with the job when it suits them.

If you are interested in being part of such a voluntary group please send a message to "Positively Speaking" on the Warsop Web, or e.mail me Charles McLaughlin

Come on folks, Join the Litter Police, let's see some Positive action for our town! As Charles say's, if 20 people give 1 hour per week the job could be done, and if 40 people give only half an hour, we could do just the same! Perhaps we could recruit a member of staff and a pupil or two from each school as well, then we may be able to educate the younger generation to produce less litter in future - Ed.

9 December 2002 - From David Fenton: E.mail dave.fenton@btinternet.com
PS - My son, who travels a great deal as part of his job is of the opinion that Warsop and Mansfield are two of the most disfigured places in the North of England by reason of the amount of litter which is thrown down carelessly. My wife and I decided a year or so ago to go on a litter-picking morning when volunteers were asked for to help clear a section of Warsop. Five people turned up. As I commented at the time 5 people picked it up after 15,000 people had thrown it down. The situation since then has got worse. Goodness knows what strangers to Warsop think of us on walking through the litter -strewn streets and past the boarded up shops which are also such an eyesore.

Why not, through the Warsop News and this site, have a concerted effort to try to make the people of Warsop more litter conscious. Youngsters are among the main culprits although they are not set a very good example by the adults. I would imagine that a start could be made by asking every householder to make sure that the front of his or her premises are litter free. I often wonder why shopkeepers don't do this as a matter of course. Their discarded packaging is what one sees most of scattered about. I would have thought it would be in their own interests to make their own frontages were clean and tidy so as to make each shop a welcoming place to enter. This would at least ensure that the centre of Warsop was kept in an acceptable state. It might also persuade youngsters and others to dispose of their rubbish in more appropriate places than the roads or pavements when they can see that their rubbish is the being thrown into clear streets.

This would leave those parish or council employees whose job it is to try to keep pace with the litter problem to concentrate on the gardens, car parks and boarded-up shop fronts.

I like Warsop. I was born here but I have become very embarrassed of late with the state of the place. I know other people feel the same. What is needed however is a campaign to try to make everybody aware of how bad it looks to be knee-deep in rubbish. We need a vigorous campaign to change ingrained habits so that Warsop can once again be the sort of place that is a pleasure to walk and shop in and I look to you and other organisations to lead such a campaign to this end. - David Fenton

10 December 2002 - From Andrew:
PS - Well said David. Has anyone else noticed that the bin outside the co-op seems to be inadaquate as at school dinner times it always seems to be overflowing with rubbish. As this seems to be a hive of activity at dinner times and with the amount of till receipts directly outside the shop surely the answer would be to provide another bin. The co-op have a responsibility and it seems to be where most of the rubbish in that area comes from. I know that they (the co-op) do not throw it down but a bin on the right hand side of the premises would be an advantage.

The problem is not just confined to the High Street, and in some way effects us all, I know kids are not the only culprits. A thousand bins are useless if folks aren't taught the importance of a clean environment. The skatepark so many of the younger generation wanted is also a problem area, broken glass being a major problem, Remember Kids you could fall and do serious damage to yourselves. Think about it! - Andrew

19 December 2002 - From Carol:
PS - Whilst walking home from work yesterday, I noticed that we now have some robust and slightly bigger bins around Warsop instead of the plastic ones that keep getting set fire to. That's a good start, I thought! Then imagine my surprise when, before eight o clock this morning, a mechanical road sweeper came up our street! Things are looking up!! Someone's obviously made a start with the clean-up operation. Now it's up to us all to support it.

I would urge Primary Schools in the area to raise awareness of this issue and make our children litter conscious. I was taught as a young child not to drop litter and grew up with the slogan 'Take your litter home' which has stuck with me all my life. I always have pockets full of sweet wrappers, till receipts and other bits of rubbish! We need to teach children whilst they're young.

We all need educating on how to reduce the amount of rubbish we produce by utilising the three R's, Refusing - over packaged goods, Re-using - packaging and Recycling - waste items. Over the festive period the amount of rubbish we produce increases dramatically and it costs us, the tax payer, £ millions to dispose of all the pretty packaging we've paid a fortune for! Is that doubly wasteful or what? There are seven landfill sites in Nottinghamshire and they are fast filling up - ( will that make them 'landfull' sites? ) Joking apart, they will need to find new sites to dump our rubbish. Will the next one be in Warsop? An unpleasant thought, but why should someone else put up with our waste? How many of us will overflow our great big wheelie bins this Christmas?

I challenge everyone to produce no more rubbish than their bin can hold this Christmas! Even if it is a two week period! You could start by composting the carrot peelings and outer sprout leaves - I often spread these around my shrub border to decompose or be eaten by wildlife. Remember also that some wrapping paper can be composted, not the foiled or plasticised type. Do you have any R tips to share? - Carol Hill

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What can we do to stop our streets and public places being fouled by dog dirt?

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Please only use this if you can be positive by offering a solution to a problem or you want to support a cause. If you just want to sound off about something do this on the letters page>>