#LitterHeroes transform flytipped heathland

Volunteers are celebrating the end of a three-year battle to revitalise one of the few remaining examples of lowland heath in Worcestershire.

Hartlebury Common, in Stourport-on-Severn, is one of the county’s most important nature reserves and is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) - areas of land or water that best represent our natural heritage in terms of their flora, fauna, geology, geomorphology, and mixture of natural features.

But the Lower Heath area of the Common reserve was plagued by fly-tipped waste and litter.

In October 2018, a group of Keep Britain Tidy litter-picking volunteers, known as the Pickup Artists, arranged to collect the litter around the nature reserve with Worcestershire County Council’s Countryside Greenspace Rangers Team and the Hartlebury Common Local Group volunteers.

It has taken more than 500 volunteer hours and £26,000 worth of County Council funding to tackle 216 acres of flytipped heathland, with excavators brought in to remove tons of heavy fly-tipped waste before the volunteers could reach the rest of the rubbish.

Worcestershire resident Karen Blanchfield oversaw the project after becoming a Keep Britain Tidy #LitterHeroes Ambassador in 2019, following her inspiring litter educational work with schools and community groups. She is one of more than 200 ambassadors around the country who are part of a programme made possible thanks to support from players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Commenting on their achievement, she said: “The passion and determination that the volunteers have shown with this project has been inspirational and I'm delighted that we will welcome cabinet members on-site to see what has been achieved by members of the community.

“I believe litter prevention is key to change future behaviours around littering.

“The pandemic initially stopped community litter-picks and with advice and guidance from Keep Britain Tidy, we were able to get back together to litter-pick safely.

 “Keep Britain Tidy has also shown support for the project in helping us spread the word nationally about the impact fly-tipping has on the environment and this project has been used as a fly-tipping example nationally."

The success comes as national figures from Defra show fly-tipping incidents hit 1.13 million in England in 2020-21, a 16% increase on the previous year’s total of 980,000.

Mark Garnier MP, Worcestershire cabinet member Tony Miller, Stourport Town Mayor Danny Russell, Stourport councillor Tim Berry and County Councillor Chris Rogers visited Hartlebury Common on December 20 to meet volunteers from The Pickup artists, members of the Hartlebury Common Local Group and Worcestershire County Council countryside rangers to thank them. 

#LitterHeroes Ambassadors like Karen work within their local community to inspire and encourage new and existing litter-picking volunteers – our #LitterHeroes - to take action by getting involved in litter picking events throughout the year, as well as our annual campaigns such as the Great British Spring Clean and Love Parks Week. 

Their roles include encouraging individuals who enquire about #LitterHeroes to join a new or existing group in their area and working with Keep Britain Tidy's corporate partners to encourage employees to organise their own #LitterHeroes events.

Keep Britain Tidy supports ambassadors through access to resources, a dedicated member of staff providing advice, guidance and training.