It was a surprise and a delight to discover Croydon Council’s Don’t Mess With Croydon initiative. I wanted to do something about litter in Kenley and was expecting it to be an administrative struggle to get help and support from Croydon. How wrong I was. I’d never heard of Don’t Mess With Croydon or Street Champions, until someone on the Kendra committee mentioned it.
My experience, so far, has been excellent, with the Council team providing equipment, bags and most importantly, back-up and advice. If you have a burning desire to tackle a local environmental issue then I suggest you take a look at this website and volunteer to be a Champion yourself.
The Council wants us to help ‘tackle environmental crime and help make Croydon a clean and attractive place for everybody’. They have adopted an aggressive strategy toward littering, dog mess and fly tippers. You may recall the shocking CCTV pictures of a pick-up truck sliding tons of rubbish into an alleyway, that was in Croydon. The perpetrator was convicted and jailed. There’s a Hall of Shame page on the website too, listing individuals and companies that have been successfully prosecuted, and the fines they have been given.
Whatever your view of Croydon Council and how it spends our money, I would argue that this is a positive initiative and Kenley residents should exploit it fully.
Paul Keating aka the ‘Litter Tsar’