Out of touch councillor accuses community efforts to tidy the community of illegal fly tipping

An out of touch Carlisle City councillor has accused residents of his ward of illegal fly tipping instead of congratulating the community efforts to clear litter.

An article in the local paper the News and Star and on its website now removed has caused upset in the community.

Resident in Denton Holme in Carlisle had over the weekend taken part in a community litter pick to help clean up the community organised by local active resident Colin May and reflecting the growing movement of community Wombles across Cumbria that have evolved as a community led effort to combat the growing pandemic of litter that has appeared to get worse over the last few months to the point it has.

The local community efforts on Saturday in Denton Holme collected some 20 bags of litter and other items that were placed by a bin for Carlisle City council to collect and dispose of.

The city council were aware of the community efforts that Colin had arranged as a grass roots community effort to clean up the litter left around the community.

Cllr Chris Southward Carlisle City councillor for Denton Holme launched an attack in the local paper accusing the efforts as illegal fly tipping and making threats of fines and legal prosecution for it.

The threats and accusation made when the community have taken positive action to enhance their community have left a bitter taste for many as to how out of touch the councillor is with the community he is supposed to represent.

There are now calls for an official apology to be made to the community by Cllr Southward and calls for him to consider his position as he has failed to represent and launched an attack on memebrs of the community.

A proactive councillor would have been out there helping clean up the community rather than launching such an attack without finding out details.

This unfortunately reflect how out of touch and disconnected many councillors are from the community they are supposed to represent and be a champion for.

Let’s hope this does not discourage the community from further wombling and working together to evolve their community through proactive positive change.

Let us hope Cllr Chris Southward and Carlisle City can rectify the situation and give a formal apology and congratulate the amazing efforts of Colin May and the community in Denton Holme and support such efforts.