Pride in the city (From The Oxford Times)

Pride in the city

8:00am Thursday 3rd March 2011 in Letters

Sir – Could I thank the hundreds of volunteer litter pickers who will be out in force at the weekend (March 4 and 5) to give Oxford a good spring clean?

OxClean, run by the Civic Society and backed by The Oxford Times, does a fantastic job. This is the real Big Society at work. Lots of community groups, schools and businesses organise themselves to pick up and recycle the litter that other people have dropped. But this is not at all a cover for council spending cuts.

Oxford city’s professional and committed team of paid refuse collectors, street sweepers and litter bin emptiers keep Oxford clean, at all hours, 52 weeks of the year. The city council has deliberately protected spending on recycling and street cleaning.

Since 2007 OxClean has provided something extra. It reminds us all not to drop litter in the first place. It keeps councillors like me up to the mark. It helps everyone appreciate the hard work our city council staff do keeping Oxford tidy.

Your readers can register at oxclean.oxfordcivicsoc.org.uk and use their grabbers and sacks to take pride in our city.

John Tanner, Board member for a cleaner, greener Oxford