Calls to revitalise Tidy Towns group and boost Navan's standings in litter league table

Councillors in Navan have pledged to revive the local Tidy Towns Committee in a bid to tackle the littering issue in the town.

Councillors praised the incredible work of the council staff in keeping the streets if Navan clean, but expressed disappointment that while Navan had a modest improvement in their performance in the Irish Business Against Litter League, the town was deemed “moderately littered.”

A number of heavily littered sites meant Navan again missed out on ‘clean’ status.

Cllr Alan Lawes said it was time to ask the local businesses to step up. “Is there anything we can do to try and get businesses to clean up around their areas.”

He pointed out that at Kennedy Place a lot of people sit on the wall eating in the good weather.

“We provide bins but a lot of people don't use them.

“The council is doing food work, but the lads go out in the morning and a few hours later it is a litter black spot again.

Cllr Yemi Adenuga said that in recent times she noticed that people “had the sheer audacity to throw their litter on the ground.”

“The council team works very hard to keep the town clean, but it is incredibly hard. “Is there something the town council can do in terms of a campaign,” she asked.

Cllr Eddie Fennessy thanked the council for their sterling work, pointing out that there had been a modest improvement in the litter league.

Cllr Emer Tóibín recalled a recent interview with someone from IBAL who said that “if a town relies too heavily on the council to keep the town clean, it tends to suffer more from littering.”

“I'd love to see some kind of campaign or initiative that motivates businesses and housing estates to be more mindful about the street outside where they live or do their business.

“Could the council run a campaign like that. We need to promote a better understanding that this is something we are all responsible for.”

Cllr John Duffy said Naas seemed to be the town coming out on top in the IBAL competition and it is similar in size to Navan. Is there anything they have been doing down there that we could look at?” he asked.

“Ballincollig in Cork, where my wife is from, won Tidy Towns. They have a huge voluntary Tidy Towns group. Up to 100 people are involved. There was a Tidy Towns here. We should encourage more people to get involved. People will get involved when they see a benefit accruing to the town.”

Cllr Alan Lawes said Navan Tidy Towns exists in name but not in practice . “We need to revive it. We should invite Meath partnership and all the community groups signed up to the partnership to a meeting to relaunch it. Navan needs a Tidy Towns committee and we should be encouraging every group to get involved.”

Cllr Yemi Adenuga said that was a brilliant idea. “This would give ownership to everyone in Navan. This is our town and it is our responsibility to keep it tidy.”

Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said “We all need to come together and organise a meeting. We need to have a roster system, where we go out litter picking ourselves to drive it on.”

Cllr Frances Deane pointed out that there were already a lot of volunteers doing this type of work in housing estates.