The South Gare in Redcar was looking horrific until a social action with support from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council cleared over a tonne of dropped, blown and fly tipped rubbish this Hallows Eve.
Some volunteers even took bags of the ghastly collected waste away in the back of their own vehicles direct to the Warrenby waste depot, in an attempt to brighten up what is an environmental beauty spot where visitors come from all over the North East to fish, walk and generally relax away from it all.
Carl Quartermain, Founder and organiser of FRED and RCBC Cabinet Member for Jobs, Skills and Leisure said, "Moving forward it is clear that more needs to be done to protect this area from the criminality of fly tipping and discarding litter and therefore I shall be writing to the landowner to discuss how best we go about this historic problem. One thing is clear this is private property and if RCBC are to continue providing crews to clean up fly tipping out of necessity, we as an authority should also be providing an invoice to pay for the collection service too.
Speaking about FRED and the community action he added,
"I'd like to thank the 30+ FRED Volunteers, Surfers Against Sewage Volunteers and the RCBC crew for clearing up. We also received sausage rolls courtesy of Greggs in Whitley Bay."
"I'm very proud to say that since FRED was formed we have been joined by over 250 individuals from Redcar and beyond many who continually return and have worked in various locations with numerous authorities, social enterprises, businesses and other community groups who care about where and how they live.
"There is great community spirit in Redcar that have vocalised for years, the need for direction in regard to these concerns. Groups like FRED can provide that direction and the enablement to act wherever there is a need to. Today's litter pick was called in by James Gilbert working in collaboration with Surfers Against Sewage. He asked for support and we provided it.
"While we do have our set litter picks monthly on the beach, ANYONE can call in a community enhancement action and we'll help by promoting it and providing the equipment if needs be. This is the beauty of having a 'Friends of Redcar' group - It collaborates, belongs to all of us and is not exclusive to doing its own thing or even simply litter picks."
If you wish to get involved with FRED contact friendsofredcar@gmail.com or call Carl at 07966 985 444
