Plea to people visiting Calderdale beauty spots as piles of rubbish dumped by litter louts

The rubbish dumped around Ogden Water Nature Reserve

The recent hot weather and the easing of lockdown restrictions has led to Calderdale parks and countryside sites being incredibly busy, which has caused a number of major issues, including problems with littering.

The Council is urging people to take their rubbish home to help support the hard-working staff and also reduce the risk of countryside fires, which can have incredibly serious consequences.

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Public Services and Communities, Councillor Susan Press, said: “‘The easing of lockdown by the Government, combined with the hot weather has led in recent days to many of our green spaces, parks and moorland being inundated with visitors and we are urging people to behave more responsibly .

‘Whilst the majority have done so, there have been issues around littering and we are asking people to take their rubbish home and remember barbecues and fires are not permitted at all and pose a serious risk to our countryside .

‘At locations like Gaddings Dam we have seen serious infringement of parking regulations and in recent weeks almost 90 parking fines have been issued at this location to those breaking rules. Our Community Safety Wardens and Civil Enforcement Officers are patrolling throughout Calderdale and we will not hesitate to act in the interests of community safety.

“COVID-19 will be with us for a long time to come and we still need to do all we can to protect each other by staying at home as much as possible and observing social distancing when outside .”

Visitors and residents are also reminded that social distancing restrictions are still in place and that keeping at least two metres apart from others is an important way of reducing transmission of COVID-19.

Calderdale Council continues to work with partners at West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service and West Yorkshire Police to enforce Public Space Protection Orders in areas of the countryside to prevent fires.

These orders prohibit the lighting of fires, barbecues, sky lanterns or anything that causes a fire risk – failure to comply is a criminal offence.