Town centre eyesores; a new look eight months on

Dec 29 2008 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CHEWING gum, takeaway cartons and overflowing bins are the main issues mentioned by people on the state of Huddersfield town centre.

Eights months after an Examiner story about rubbish in the centre we took a closer look to see if anything had changed.

Back in April we saw Nazi-related graffiti daubed on a wall in Wood Street.

Lying alongside it was a dumped sofa and piles of rubbish bags, just yards away from the entrance to St Peter’s Gardens.

There was also an abandoned car with a 2004 tax disk, a old sofa and a large amount of litter – takeaway boxes, crisp packets, drink cans – in the stairwell of a Kirklees Council-owned building on St Peter’s Street.

But how much has changed eight months later?

The litter around the Kirklees building remains, but there was little sign of any other problems at the April hotspots.

Outside the Kirklees advice and information centre bin bags overflowed two large bins and a large wheeled bin.

Alongside it was a traffic cone and other discarded bin bags scattered on the ground.

Round the back of the building on St Peter’s Street the footwells were piled high with litter thrown by passers-by.

The building directly opposite was covered with graffiti.

There was a discarded mattress on the pavement near Huddersfield Open Market and a large amount of chewing gum around the cross in the Market Place.

But residents we spoke to highlighted other problems.

Lynsey Donoghue, 27, of Bradley, said: “If you walk along Cross Church Street the pavements are a right state.

“There’s old takeaway food on the ground and sick from people who drunk too much the night before. It’s disgusting.

“Someone needs to power wash the pavements, then keep on top of the problem as it’s awful walking down there.”

David Barton, 37, of Flockton, said: “The chewing gum on the ground stands out, but how can any council stop people from throwing it there?

“It seems that they’ve tried by putting the chewing gum boards up. Maybe it’s time to fine people if they’re seen doing it; it’s the only way they’ll learn.”