VOLUNTEERS spent two and a half hours in the rain clearing up rubbish dumped at a dale beauty spot by hordes of visitors that descended a week ago.
Despite pleas from locals to stay away, crowds of people gathered at Low Force to party following the slight easing of lockdown restrictions. In their wake, they left piles of rubbish strewn over rocks, on the river bank and in bushes.
A volunteer task force of residents and North Pennines Partnership AONB came together to clean up the mess on Wednesday, June 3, picking up all manner of rubbish from tents to bags and women’s sanitary items, as well as a few shoes.
Bob Danby, from Utass, said: “A couple of guys from Holwick regularly pick up litter and they do a great job and we really should thank them for all their work.
“I went up to the site on Tuesday (June 2) and it was quite disheartening to see the amount of litter that was left.”
An appeal for volunteers on Utass’ In It Together group to help gather up the rubbish resulted in 13 residents, young and old, coming forward to help out.
Mr Danby added: “My initial intention was for two of us to go up there and clear up, but we would never have done it if others hadn’t turned up.
“The weather was terrible and the rubbish disgusting, but the attitude of the volunteers was really, really positive.”
Among the rubbish, which was bagged up and taken away in a minibus, were shoes, bags, tents, beer cans, alcohol bottles and even human excrement.
“There was all kinds of rubbish but the most gratifying thing that we found though was an empty fixed notice penalty envelope, so there is some justice in the world,” added Mr Danby.
“A lot of people have been a bit angry about why we are picking up the rubbish, but if we didn’t who would do it? I’m just really grateful to everyone who turned out to help and to those who have said they will help in future.”
A WhatsApp group has now been started with volunteering offering to keep the beauty spot free from rubbish.
However, Mr Danby said he hoped anyone visiting the area in the future would have the decency to take their rubbish home with them and abide by the countryside code.
Chris Woodley-Stewart, director of the North Pennines AONB Partnership, said: “The numbers of people visiting some sensitive locations right across the North Pennines has suddenly rocketed and this has brought with it issues of litter, anti-social behaviour and damage to the environment. Additionally many facilities and services which would normally help to manage visitors are not yet open. We’d continue to encourage anyone spending time outdoors to respect farmland, local communities and nature.
“We are working with partners to support local efforts to respond to these issues, and in Teesdale we will be providing some additional equipment for volunteers who have been involved in cleaning
up after large numbers of visitors.
“We’d like to thank the many volunteers right across the AONB who continue to give their time to look after the North Pennines.”
