Collingham Comment

Collingham - Best Kept Village?

I love Collingham, I’ve lived in it for most of my life, and whenever I’ve been away, wherever I’ve been, I’ve always been glad to return.

In all the years I’ve lived here the village has grown, a little haphazardly truth be told, but even so it hasn’t lost its charm and intrinsic beauty.  Green spaces, pleasant corners, open countryside, and many footpaths to allow access to it, all contribute to make Collingham one of the most sought after villages in the county.

So why is it then that a small minority of Collingham’s inhabitants conspire to make it ugly?  They strew litter along footpaths and streets, fly tip rubbish in the lanes, and dump refuse around the recycling bins.  It would be easy to blame the youth of the village, and although they make a contribution it isn’t solely down to them.  It isn’t the youth of the village that dump boxes of bottles if the bottle bank is full or can’t be bothered to put empty boxes in the cardboard dumpster.  It isn’t the youth of the village that dump bags of clothes if the clothing bank is full.

Much of the littering is casual dumping of snack packets, drinks bottles, sweetie wrappers, and fish and chip cartons and, sad but true, much of this is down to the younger element in the village.  Somehow it’s not ‘cool’ to take litter home or put it in the bin.  I would hazard a guess that few of the litter droppers are pupils at John Blow, at primary age they seem to know better, so what changes between primary school and secondary school?

Yes, the playing field around the skate park and sports wall is often a mess, but a new litter bin will shortly be sited there, at the request of the young people who use the area I might add.  Another new bin is to be sited by the seat near the notice board at the Co-op.

Then we come on to the nastiest habit that some villagers have.  All over Collingham there are big red bins to allow dog owners to clean up after their animals and dispose of the bags.  You, as Council Tax payers, pay for these bins and for them to be emptied on a regular basis, but despite this the paths and footpaths around the village are a disgrace!

I’m not going to mince words here, so if you are easily shocked now is the time to move away from this page.  People let their dogs shit on the pavements, on footpaths, on sports fields and playing fields and other people’s lawns.  It is disgusting!  All for the sake a few minutes taken to clean up, if owners aren’t prepared to clean up after their pets then they aren’t fit to keep them!  I know it’s nasty, dog shit is nasty, but that’s no excuse for dumping that nastiness on other people!  The most irritating and stupid of all are those owners that bag up the shit then throw the bag in the hedge bottom for someone else to rake out and dispose of instead of carrying it to a bin!

Everyone, unless they’ve been living on another planet, is aware of the health hazards revolving around dog mess, particularly for children, so there’s no excuse.  The saddest part is that it’s the few irresponsible owners that get responsible owners tarred with the same brush.  It’s time they cleaned up their act or stopped taking their dogs out to defecate around our village!

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