Liberal Democrats Back School Recycling Campaign With Petition

To mark the end of Love Parks Week, the Southwark Liberal Democrats have launched a petition backing a campaign from local school children to install recycling bins in Southwark Park, following letters they had written to the council. 

Cllr Rachel Bentley met with Southwark Park Primary School Council in May, where she collected letters written by the pupils addressed to Southwark Council. The letters identified that whilst the children loved their local park, the lack of recycling bins concerned them.  

Cllr Bentley immediately attempted to arrange to deliver the letters to the Cabinet Members responsible, but only got a response months later, with little progress happening since.  

The Liberal Democrats have responded by launching a petition to back the campaign for recycling bins in Southwark Park, and also make calls for further provision of recycling bins across all parks in Southwark. 

This is the latest development in the campaign from the Lib Dems to clean up Southwark, with flytipping and litter a key priority for residents. The Liberal Democrats have submitted motions and amendments to council budgets to this end, including proposals to roll out “mega skip days”, abolish the controversial bulky waste collection charge, and put more resource into bins and street cleaning services.  

The Labour Party rejected all of these proposals, with the Cabinet Member for Clean Air, Streets, and Waste even suggesting that he “didn’t recognise” the problem. 

Last weekend, the Liberal Democrats organised a beach clean near Surrey Docks Farm with the local scouts and the Thames21 charity, with around 60 local people coming together to remove dumped Lime bikes, tires, and bags of rubbish from the Thames foreshore.

Commenting, Cllr Rachel Bentley said:  

“The brilliant letter campaign from the children at Southwark Park Primary school shows that the next generation care deeply about looking after our local environment – and puts some of our adult politicians to shame!  

Everyone deserves clean parks and streets to enjoy, especially in the summer months! It’s truly inspiring to see local children lead campaigns to keep their park tidy and clean. 

Liberal Democrats have put tackling fly-tipping and litter at the centre of our campaigns, as unfortunately our local Labour council just don’t take it seriously. Our petition to support the campaign for recycling bins in Southwark Park is just a part of our drive to clean up Southwark.”