A network of volunteers in Abbey Hills have been working together to clean up their neighbourhood, after rubbish was recently dumped at a nearby church.
Local support rallied to the cause after the groundskeeper of St Michael’s Church alerted local councillors to fly-tipping and overgrown hedges around the church’s permitter.
When Councillors Shaid Mushtaq and Jenny Harrison suggested the idea of a clean-up to the community, residents of Warren Lane, volunteers from the Ghazali Trust, and members of the local mosques – including Hussainia Islamic Mission and Jamia Shamsia Qamrul Uloom – were fully on board and ready to roll up their sleeves to get the job done.
Speaking on why he got involved, Javed Akhtar, from Jamia Shamsia Qamrul Uloom, said: “We are very proud of where we live, as are many of our members, and we want to see our communities kept tidy and clean.
“That’s why we were ready to get stuck in and work shoulder to shoulder with our fellow residents in clearing up this mess, as many of us live in the area that has been affected.
“We just hope our efforts do not go in vain and our streets can be kept clean.”
Saleem Akhtar, from the Ghazali Trust, added: “Fly-tipping is an ugly sight, and we are tired of seeing it in our community.
“That’s why wanted to get involved as we hope our actions will deter others from thinking that this behaviour is acceptable in our community because it isn’t.”
The clean-up took place on Saturday 10 September, with volunteers out and about with litter picks and bags to clear up any rubbish they could find.
Items collected along the way included a dumped mattress, chopped up wood, a car engine cover, and generous amounts of general litter.
At the end of the day, the community had filled two whole skips alongside multiple bags of rubbish which were ready to be collected by the council’s Environmental Services.
Tukhir Ahed, of Hussainia Islamic Mission, added: “It was a long day and it wasn’t easy work, but we are glad we’ve been able to make a difference to the local area.
“I am amazed at how much rubbish we managed to collect but the area looks a lot better thanks to our joint efforts as a community.”
The aftermath of this work has been greatly received by the church and the before and after pictures really show their impact.
Councillor Amanda Chadderton, Leader of Oldham Council, added: “It’s wonderful to see our local communities working together to keep our borough clean and supporting our Don’t Trash Oldham campaign.
“I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved, and I hope this encourages others to take similar pride in their area too.
“Sadly, there will always be some residents who think it is acceptable to drop their litter and dump their waste, but we will not tolerate this in our borough.
“Over the last 12 months, we have already issued more than 381 penalty notices and prosecuted 44 people for dumping their rubbish and this has resulted in fines and associated costs of £26,000.
“We aren’t stopping there though, and we will continue to catch people who think it is okay to make our borough look untidy.
“We need the continued support of our residents in this fight too though, so I call on all residents to report any fly-tipping they spot in their area by visiting our website.”
Residents can report fly-tipping and litter by visiting the council’s website at www.oldham.gov.uk/DontTrashOldham.