Shaming Shepway: Folkestone Town Councillors Take a Lead on Cleaning Folkestone's Bins

A group of Folkestone Town Councillors have taken action to shame Shepway Council into maintaining and cleaning its litter bins in the centre of Folkestone. Despite repeated requests to Shepway Council, the stainless steel bins in the main pedestrianised shopping centre have not been properly cleaned seemingly since they were installed, and were covered in grime, cigarette ash, stickers and worse.

Lib Dem Town Councillors Emily Sanger, Maggie Barratt and Tim Prater and People First Councillor Janet Andrews spent Tuesday lunchtime scrubbing the bins in the centre of Folkestone in Sandgate Road and Guildhall Street. Passers-by thanked the Councillors for their work, and commented how much better it made the area look.

Armed only with scrubbing brushes, cloths, buckets and plenty of soapy water, the four councillors tackled all the stainless steel bins in Sandgate Road and a couple in Guildhall Street. Central Folkestone coffee shop Costa Coffee supplied a welcome coffee break for the Councillor work team, which was most appreciated!

Cheriton Councillor Tim Prater said:

"Its a disgrace how dirty these bins had become: its been years since the bins were cleaned properly. People across the town - from residents to Councillors and many other - have been saying how bad they looked. It simply is not that difficult to ensure that bins and street furniture are washed down every month or so - it's then much easier to keep our town looking tidy.

"Its all very well for Shepway to put up signs asking people to help keep Folkestone tidy - frankly, Shepway need to set an example, and they are failing to do so. By taking action today, Folkestone Town Councillors have shown what SHOULD be done - we hope Shepway take note and clean up properly in future."