Pleasing though it is to see so many people enjoying Jesus Green in the first flush of summer, the litter situation is fairly horrendous.
The green has become a favoured destination for picnickers (in groups of 20 or more) who then try to place this waste in the public litter bins. While this is preferable than simply leaving mess strewn across the grass (which some groups do), the municipal bins cannot cope with what is essentially huge amounts of domestic waste. Visitors must attempt to take their waste home with them as it is not feasible to expect these small bins (even supplemented by extra ones) to contain all this waste.
And frankly the scenes seen following some hot weekends are simply disgraceful, with litter left all over the place. Council officials described a May weekend as teh worst they had ever seen Cambridge's greens.
Consideration needs to be given to enforcement if people refuse to tidy up after themselves.
And then there is the matter of disposible BARBECUES. These are not allowed on the green. Our association has been promised signs on each of the entrances to the green by the council but these have not yet materialised. Burn marks take up to two years to grow back and the dozens of patches left on the green on some weekends are not acceptable.
How draconian the council is willing to be in enforcing this rule is unclear. But unless a strong message is sent out, this practice will increasingly be seen as a Cambridge way of life, when it is clearly wrong (try lighting a BBQ in Central Park, NY, and see what happens).
And in the age of David Cameron's Big Society, in which individuals are asked to take responsibily for their environment rather than just relying on the state, maybe people might bee willing tell offenders about the rules when they set a BBQ being lit - though it would help if there was a sign to gesture towards.
So let's look after the green this summer
I was really disappointed by this post. One of the pleasures of living in Cambridge is the parks which are enjoyed and appreciated by so many (not everyone has a garden). When our friends visit us they are delighted by the relaxed attitude towards use of barbecues on Jesus Green. The majority of people are well behaved and respectful, hence litter piled up by the (too few) bins. Lets not throw out the baby with the bath water - by all means protect our parks but don't remove the pleasure of enjoying them. Why not provide more bins / bbq areas for people to continue to continue to enjoy the Green rather than use of law enforcement alla Central Park.
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