Despite its importance as a historic landscape, sadly, the Levels has suffered from fly-tipping for many years and the local residents have identified it as a major concern.
Because of this issue, and as part of the Living Levels Black Spots to Bright Spots project, the partners are organising a clear up of the reen on November 8th on Green Lane and a community litter pick up on Friday 9th November from 09:30am-11.45am. On November 8th specialist teams from NRW will take away large items and hazardous waste and on the 9th community volunteers will help to pick-up the smaller items along the lane with support from Keep Wales Tidy. The waste will be disposed of by Newport City Council.
In addition to the community litter pick event, the Black Spots to Bright Spots project will see ‘no fly-tipping’ signs erected, use of cameras and increased enforcement in the area. NRW will monitor the impact of the measures .
We need to manage numbers on the day, so please contact us if would like to get involved or for more information. Jayne Carter is the lead organiser and can be reached @ Jayne.Carter@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk
We’ll keep you posted on the results via social media and the website!
Background
The Living Levels Black Spots to Bright Spots project is a three initiative which will attempt to tackle the issue via a range of coordinated awareness-raising and enforcement actions. Pam Jordan, a Fly-tipping Enforcement Officer working for NRW, has been collecting data on the worst affected areas for the past few months which shows that Green Lane (Heol Las) is one of the worst hotspots. Waste types tipped include: household and business waste, asbestos (hazardous), waste generated from cannabis cultivation and even dead animals. Some of the waste tipped, has caused a danger to road users by blocking the road and puncturing tyres. Waste has also been tipped in the reens, causing a potential flood risk and risk of pollution - endangering the vast array of invertebrates, aquatic plants and other important wildlife. This community event is one of a number of interventions which will be trialled over the next three years. By the end of the project we hope to achieve a sustained reduction in fly-tipping incidents on the Gwent Levels.