It is not until activities like Beachwatch do you realise that what appears to be a very clean beach in Southsea is in fact littered with small detritus.
Nine members of the Conservative team joined 22 volunteers to comb the beach and document which pieces we found.
Run by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), the clean up and litter survey happens on the same weekend every year and last year 385,659 items were collected from all over the UK by 5000 volunteers.
This year Beachwatch on Southsea Beach was organised by Conservative Cllr Luke Stubbs who had organised with the council to provide plastic bags and gloves and litter picking tools, vital for picking up the small pieces of glass and plastic we found. Having just had the plaster taken off from my broken arm and still feeling a little fragile (great excuse), I was given the task of minuting all the findings of our group on an official sheet of paper from the MCS.
The pebble beach is kept relatively clean by the council so I was surprised that we managed to fill several bags of plastic bottle tops (the most numerous item), ice lolly sticks (more understandable in this tourist area),bits of rope and fishing lines and bits of metal. Our group only found one glass bottle intact but several bits of glass which could cause nasty cuts for swimmers. There were also numerous cigarette butts near the pier and promenade and sadly we were not supposed to list 100′s so we did a guestimate. We only found one plastic shopping bag.
All the items were relatively small which is probably why they were not picked up by the council workers, but all the items had potential for damaging wildlife and cuts to humans so it was a worthwhile exercise. The turnout of 22 volunteers was smaller than usual but it was a beautiful sunny day and after two hours we felt that we had been useful in an area of one of the most populated parts of the coastline.
Comment by J. on October 5, 2009 at 11:36 am
Dear Conservatives,
Can you please explain something to me about your intended Cut in Incapacity Benefit for over half a million people.
People who claim to lead, should always lead from the front. Can you please explain, clearly, why MP’s of all Parties could not lead by taking a Cut in Salaries of £500:00 per week? That way, you would at least be hitting those who can afford it, as apposed to those who can’t.
You could also suggest taking away all of the Expenses paid to MP’s and saving money from the public purse that way. After all, the ordinary people of this country, who you claim you are there to represent, don’t get Expenses to help them cope.
Could you please reply personally, explaining why there two things could not be done!
P.S. I am not in receipt of Incapacity Benefit, but I know injustice when I see it!