After three years and many hours of hard graft, The Pick Up Artists, an enthusiastic band of volunteers has cleared an area of Hartlebury Common of litter and fly-tipping.
Over 500 volunteer hours and £26,000 worth of County Council funding have helped to improve this area of important lowland heathland.
The group have been working in partnership with Worcestershire County Council and Hartlebury Common Local Group.
Excavators were needed to remove tons of heavy fly-tipped waste, so that the volunteers could reach the rubbish and litter and restore the Lower Heath area of the Common reserve back into a space that can be used by visitors, human and animal alike.
Martin Barnett, Countryside Sites Officer for Worcestershire County Council, said:
“This is a proud moment for all involved in this work where a persistent issue of illegal dumping of waste has been addressed. A great challenge overcome by the persistent work and passion of volunteers, local people and our small team of WCC officers.”
Skips and trailers were filled with hundreds of bags of litter over the period of the three years.
Heading up the team for the local group are Keep Britain Tidy litter heroes Ambassador Karen Blanchfield and Pauline Round.
Karen Blanchfield, said: “I’m not normally lost for words and was completely speechless when Martin showed myself and Pauline the area in question with the sheer size of the fly-tipped area and the mammoth task they lay ahead. To me, it looked like a landfill site, it was higher than 3 metres tall and it stretched hundreds of metres. I couldn’t begin to think how and where would we start on our first visit but knowing our fantastic community of volunteers that we are blessed to have, we agreed to just start somewhere. That somewhere lead us to take on the biggest project the pickup artists have ever seen.”
Pauline Round, said: “Liking a challenge, we agreed to go ahead and help the county council. We approached many businesses and residence on Sandy Lane industrial estate to help keep the area litter free and they were all very supportive. Thanks to the dedication of WCC rangers and all the volunteers we have now after three years transformed this wonderful nature reserve to how mother nature intended it to be. This part of the common is now a haven for community members, local businesses, the wildlife, and plantations. I would like to thank everyone who helped us with the epic community project.”
Lockdown saw the team put the clear up on hold for 6 months that unfortunately saw a rise once again in fly-tipping on the Common. But this did not stop the group, they just pick up their pickers and carried on with the job in hand.
On 20 December 2021, the army of volunteers and WCC staff will gather once more to do a a litter pick.
They are asking for all the volunteers who have been involved to attend to see and celebrate the amazing achievements of the clean up, finishing with a Christmas treat sponsored at the Rose and Crown pub.
All the volunteers involved have agreed to maintain the area with a monthly litter pick with the Assistant Countryside Sites Officer David Shephard who has been a huge part of the team throughout this project.
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