I would like to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers who turned out to join the first event of the Pride in Ely Clean Up.

This was a real partnership approach with volunteers from the city council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Waitrose, Timebank, VCAEC and members of the public.

There wasn’t a lot of street litter so we concentrated on litter that had been blown into hedgerows and the appalling amount of cigarette butts that seemed to be everywhere despite there being a large number of bins.

Sadly, it is a minority of people who drop these and it is spoiling our wonderful city, giving out the message that we do not have sufficient personal pride in our environment to contribute towards keeping it clean.

I am sure that this is not the case. If none of us dropped litter and the smokers put their cigarette butts in the litter bins provided, that would really help us in our campaign to keep our pavements, passages and open spaces clean.

At the end of the morning, we felt we had made a difference, but we need this to continue. The partnership will carry on working together and be discussing plans to maintain the momentum that our volunteers have started.

Do let us know if you want to be involved.

CLLR LIS EVERY

Mayor of Ely

Via e-mail