A councillor has accused contractors of being irresponsible after guerrilla litter pickers left an “embarrassing pile” of discarded road signs and highway apparatus under a bridge in Petersfield.
Nine A-frames and five road signs were among the items removed from the verges and undergrowth around the A3 Winchester Road roundabout on April 26.
The clean-up followed an earlier litter pick which saw volunteers fill more than dozen bags with rubbish – namely fast food packaging – from the slip roads.
Members of the group – identified as the Rubbish Singers during last week’s Petersfield Town Council meeting – did the work independently during a quieter period to minimise safety risks.
And they certainly made their feelings felt loud and clear, with Hampshire County Council quickly removing the large pile of signs left under the dual carriageway bridge.
The pile was called “embarrassing” by town and district councillor Jamie Matthews when he highlighted the work of the mystery pickers to HCC’s Russell Oppenheimer.
“There is dialogue going on with East Hampshire District Council, which is the leading authority, and they’re aware this has been happening,” said Cllr Matthews on Thursday (May 1), during the Rose Room meeting.
“They can’t sanction (the volunteer litter picking) but it’s a group of individuals that have taken it on themselves and are aware of the risks.
“They’re trying to minimise the risk by picking at quieter times, but the net result is we now have nice clear slip roads and hopefully that is going to be picked up on.”
Cllr JC Crissey revealed the cleaners were the “Rubbish Singers” while Cllr Oppenheimer admitted the results were embarrassing for the authorities, before turning his ire to contractors.
He spoke in passing about HCC plans to introduce a ‘lane rental’ disruption charge to reduce the length of roadworks on the county’s busiest roads.
The plan aims to incentivise utility companies or agencies not to prolong work by charging them a daily fee.
Cllr Oppenheimer said: “It’s a really big bugbear of mine and I’m really grateful for Andrew Bulmer and the Rubbish Singers for what they’ve done and I’m glad the pile was got rid of quickly.
“It’s very embarrassing and it’s mostly utility companies who employ contractors who are just irresponsible,” he added in referring to discarded road signs.
“It’s littering, really and we are now cracking down. When we have our new road lane rental scheme it will mean more fines for contractors who act in this way.”
One of the pickers, Glenn McLernon, also recently got in touch with the Post to highlight the fact that motorists aren’t the only culprits when it comes to littering.
While fast food packaging was prevalent among the litter, the detritus also included a barrier and two large bollards along with the aforementioned signs and A-frames.
He wrote: “There were also eight sandbags, one estate agents sign and four bags of slip road litter.
“Most of these items had been there for many months, if not years. It’s fly-tipping in anyone’s language.”