11/08/07 - Successful Green Action Day in Westlea

Photo: Robert Buckland (left) with local residents and Toothill and Westlea Councillors Mary Martin (last on right) and Steve Wakefield (second from right).

On Saturday 11 th August 2007  a large group of local people and councillors from West Swindon  met at Westleaze Play park for a Conservative Green Action Day and Barbeque. This was the culmination of several weeks of planning by Cllr Mary Martin and Steve Wakefield, Toothill and Westlea Councillors and Robert Buckland, South Swindon's Parliamentary Candidate.

Swindon Borough Council have recently carried out extensive cutting back of trees and undergrowth that had taken over the Westleaze play area, after years of neglect by the former Labour administration.  On the Green Action Day, the team cleared litter, raked out the pond of rubbish, cleaned graffiti off the slide and re-painted large parts of the wooden pallisade around the slide area that had been disfigured by graffiti.

Your local Conservatives are committed to building , maintaining and providing local play areas for your children, and there have been new and refurbished ones springing up all over Swindon, including most recently Shaw ridge. There is a programme for Westleaze and not forgetting Freshbrook and Grange Park.

Robert Buckland was there helping and said "It is so encouraging to see people coming out and helping on this Green Action Day. The weather has been terrific and we have enjoyed ourselves trying to make a difference for the local community.  I think the event has been a resounding success and the BBQ was a great way of thanking them for their time and hard work".

Coun Mary Martin at the clean-up day

COUNCILLORS and residents teamed up as part of a major clean-up operation in Westlea Park.

The green action day, organised after complaints of drug taking in the play area, saw 26 people fill 24 bags of rubbish by the end of the day.

Wooden fences were repainted and graffiti was also removed from the play area and its slide.

Swindon Council workers cut back trees and undergrowth that had taken over the West Swindon play area two weeks ago and the action day was the next step.

Councillors say the park had become a popular hang-out for small groups involved in anti-social behaviour such as drug taking and spraying graffiti tags.

Now, due to the hard work of everyone involved, the park is looking clean and tidy.

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Coun Steve Wakefield Coun Mary Martin (both Con, Toothill and Westlea) and Robert Buckland, the Conservative candidate for South Swindon all thought the project was a resounding success and are planning another clean-up in the autumn.

Mr Buckland said: "There have been concerns raised by some of the residents in the area.

"This was about groups gathering together, where they said drug misuse and anti-social behaviour was taking place.

"The park was getting quite enclosed from the size of the trees and bushes and they have now been cut back.

"It has all been opened up and tidied.

"A day like Saturday really does show that the community does care about its local amenities."

Coun Martin said: "It was a really good effort. Everyone was really enthusiastic about the scheme.

"It was so good to see so many people giving up their time to lend a hand.

"We had put leaflets through people's doors to say what we were doing.

"There were lots of people who didn't help out but want to next time."

A barbecue was held in the park as a way of thanking the volunteers for their time and hard work after the clean-up.

Coun Wakefield said: "The park had been quite badly neglected with the amount of litter there and the growth of the bushes.

"There were a lot of bottles and broken glass but no needles."