Athlone 'moderately littered' as Mayor seeks more volunteer spirit

Athlone has been ranked as 'moderately littered' in the latest survey by anti-litter group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL). Athlone was placed in joint 38th place, a marginal improvement on its 42nd position in the final report of 2010. The town was also labelled as 'moderately littered' at the conclusion of last year's rankings. The Mayor of Athlone Alan Shaw has said that the latest IBAL report showed continued marginal improvement in Athlone's standing when compared with other towns and cities across the country. Athlone remains in the 'moderately littered' category of the rankings having consistently improved its ranking in the previous four reports. "Athlone has improved from being a 'litter blackspot' in June 2009 to being 'moderately littered' in this latest report. The overall trend is promising and our challenge is now to step up to the next category which is 'clean to European norms'," he said. The Mayor has indicated however that a much greater level of volunteerism was needed to bring our town to the next category 'clean to European norms'. "This is where we need to be and I want to see further improvements during the coming year", the Mayor said. He said the improvements in the rankings could be attributed to the strong working partnership forged between Athlone Tidy Towns Committee and Athlone Town Council. Overall, there were mixed results for the Midlands, with Mullingar, Tullamore and Roscommon, along with most of the country, receiving a clean bill of health and maintaining their litter free status from last year. Athlone and Portlaoise are both 'moderately littered' in joint 38th place and joint 44th place respectively in the league of 53 towns. Meanwhile Dublin has been slammed for its worst result in years. IBAL has warned that the rise in vacant and derelict properties is contributing to increased litter and unsightliness in certain areas. An Taisce, who carried out the survey on behalf of IBAL, remarked that Athlone had shown "another slight improvement". However, the organisation said that more than half the towns in the survey have no Grade C or Grade D sites - Athlone had two. "Most of the approach routes into Athlone were well maintained and clear of litter - the only poor approach route was the Town ByPass N6 Dual Carriageway which was seriously littered. "Dunnes Stores and Dublin Gate Street were top ranking sites and not much effort is required for Riverside at Wolfe Tone Park to get the top litter grade. Griffith Street was a mixed site - the residential part of the street was in good order but overall the street was very badly let down by the commercial premises which were very poorly maintained." The league table of 53 areas across the country showed two-thirds of towns and cities to be clean to European norms, among them the cities of Waterford, Galway and, for the first time, Cork. Also for the first time since the League began, Killarney took the accolade of cleanest town, with the An Taisce examiners calling it "a superb result for our No. 1 tourist town". The cleanliness rating for the country as whole (82) was the highest since IBAL began its surveys ten years ago, with over 20 towns deemed to be cleaner than European equivalents. IBAL chairman Dr Tom Cavanagh warned that the economic downturn had led to specific litter problems, with the rise in vacant commercial properties, alongside ghost estates and derelict sites, an increasing issues.