Skips are a spring cleaning hit

Since last summer, residents of the Pinehurst area of Hertford have been working with us to flag up improvements they wanted to make in their community and agreed a plan of changes with their Neighbourhood Officer.

Working with the CVS, we asked over 500 households in the area to rate areas of neighbourhood life from one to ten and to suggest ways to improve their local community. A number of people suggested that ‘Skip Amnesty ‘ to encourage people to clear up abandoned rubbish, furniture, unwanted toys and other items that were making the neighbourhood  look untidy. We set a date for the Spring holiday so local children could get involved too.

Skips arrived and were placed around the estate - and residents were soon clearing out unwanted things in their homes and gardens. Some children started an impromptu litter pick to give their community spaces a bit of an extra spruce-up.

We received over 125 responses and ‘Skip Amnesty Day’ was one of the suggestions. The full survey results will be sent to all residents in March and we'll be working through it with them to take up as many of their recommendations as we can.

One resident said “This was a great chance to clear out some of the bulky items that get accumulated and it does mean people think twice about just dumping things around the estate. It was great to see the kids joining in, and learning to be proud of their neighbourhood and the importance of keeping it clean and tidy.”

Clare Adamson, Neighbourhood Team Leader said “Skip Amnesty Day  has been about more than just cleaning up. We wanted to try to build the community spirit here – encouraging residents to work together to make a neighbourhood everyone can be pleased to be part of – and perhaps helping people get to know one another a bit better.”