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Wednesday 29 Jun 2005

RESIDENTS ENJOY A CLEANER, GREENER BELLSHILL

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Nearly 600 bags of rubbish were cleared from land near the railway line at Bellshill in a massive clean-up operation by Network Rail. The two-and-a-half week project saw piles of illegally dumped rubbish – including prams, armchairs and household waste - cleared from the Thorn Road, Barty’s Bridge and Muirmadkin Road areas. Ron McAulay, Network Rail Route Director for Scotland, said: “Fly-tipping is illegal and it poses a health and safety risk to rail passengers, employees and our lineside neighbours. “We continue to work with local authorities, town centre managers and the British Transport Police to tackle fly-tipping on and around the railway. Network Rail owns and maintains 21,000 miles of track across Britain and we rely on communities to help us by reporting cases of illegal dumping to the British Transport Police.” The work was paid for by Network Rail and supported by Town Centre Initiatives and North Lanarkshire Council. Anne Flood, Town Centre Manager, said: “Town Centre Initiatives welcomes the work which has been undertaken in this environmental operation. Removing what was effectively a blight on the area is in keeping with policies working towards clean, safe and attractive town centres.” Robert Steenson, Environmental Health Manager at North Lanarkshire Council, added: “Fly-tipping is a widespread problem across North Lanarkshire and it is pleasing to see that different organisations are now working in partnership to tackle this issue. “