COUNCILLORS have decided against holding a ‘big litter picking day’ in Wellington because they do not feel that the town has got a big problem with litter.

A member of the public suggested at Wellington Town Council’s monthly meeting on April 7 that the authority did something because the “litter problem was alarming.”

Cllr Keith Wheatley said back then that he was not of the same opinion and would be horrified to see newspaper headlines claiming Wellington’s streets were strewn with rubbish.

It was agreed at the full council meeting for the authority’s environment committee to look at the issue in more detail at its meeting on April 22.

And Cllr Wheatley said: “I stand by what I said at the full council meeting – I still don’t think we’ve got a big litter problem in Wellington.

“Of course, there’s some litter, but I’m not convinced that we’re seeing a large volume of litter which could be classed as offensive.”

The environment committee was presented with a two-page report about community litter picking events written by the council’s project assistant Rebecca Hunt.

It was suggested the council could consider buying more litter-pickers – although volunteers could be encouraged to bring their own. The council would also need to look at buying strong bags for the rubbish collected and separate out the recyclable objects such as paper and plastic.

Councillors had previously cited a litter-picking event organised by Bridgwater Town Council and that it could be something to base an event around in Wellington.

They were told Bridgwater’s efforts tied in with the Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean – an annual event that encourages people to go on litter picks to keep public spaces clean.

But councillors seemed far from enthusiastic about the council organising anything like that here in Wellington – with some saying that people already pay for street cleaning through their council tax and might be offended at being asked to volunteer to pick up litter themselves.

Environment committee chairman, Cllr Mike McGuffie, said: “I’m getting the feeling that we don’t really want to do this. Why would we want to buy more litter-pickers if we don’t have a litter problem?”

And he added: “Perhaps councillors could go out and pick-up litter and we could do it as a publicity thing?”

Cllr Chris Booth said: “There might be a handful of streets where there is a litter problem? Perhaps we could put something out on social media asking people to let us know?”

The town council currently owns 11 litter-pickers and these are available to be loaned out to schools and groups.

The report suggested that if Wellington wanted to hold a big litter picking day the council should try and enrol the support of local groups such as the Scouts, youth sports teams and other interested parties.

The member of public who brought the litter concerns to the council’s attention had been disappointed that a request for a new litter bin to be installed in Popes Lane had not materialised. Councillors agreed to look at that request again.