By Matt Jarram, Local Democracy Reporter
Council cleaners are having to turn up as early as 4am to clean up parks across Nottingham which have been left in ‘appalling’ states and covered in human excrement.
Nottingham City Council says as holiday destinations are limited outside the UK, young people are being drawn to the Forest Recreation Ground, the Arboretum and Woodthorpe to enjoy the sunshine.
Now, street cleaners are being pulled away from their regular duties to meet the demand of these large gatherings at parks in the city.
Councillor Rosemary Healy, lead member for parks and open spaces, said it was becoming a “huge strain” on the service and described the scenes as “anti-social.”
Beer cans, bottles and barbecues have been left strewn across the sites, with people even taking their own toilet paper so they can excrete in the grass.
There are no plans to close any of the parks, but the council wants to encourage people to take away their waste so the council can cope with the demand.
The concern is as the weather heats up in July more people will be drawn to these sites, with revellers parking up at lunchtime and staying into the night.
Most shockingly, excrement was recently discovered near the Memorial Gardens at the Victoria Embankment, created to commemorate the dead of World War 1.
Councillor Healy said: “Our teams are getting up increasingly early to tidy up the parks for the next day, at 4am and 5am, and it is not just litter.
“People are using the parks as toilets – and we have had to cleanse them. They are even bringing their own toilet roll. We have images of that – and it is a mass issue.
“It is so anti-social to expect people to clean this up as part of their job.
“We are finding the resources to do the best we can but clearly people have their day jobs to do and resources are limited.
“If this goes on for two weeks (during the expected heatwave in July), night after night, it will be a huge strain.
“This is about instilling back pride and respect in your neighbourhoods.”
Eddie Curry, head of public realm at Nottingham City Council, said: “Gatherings in our parks creates a huge pressure for the service and results in having to pull resources from our neighbourhood operation teams, which keep our streets clean.
“These extra cleans effect our scheduled work and create delays in our normal day to day operation.”
