Essex councils looking at partnership to tackle A12 litter

Braintree Council heard how the Kelvedon stretch of the A12 was suffering from “absolutely terrible” levels of littering – albeit it was not the council fault – which “falls below any criteria for acceptability.”

The council has said it wants to create a partnership with other councils which sets an agreed plan to keep littering along the major trunk road at an acceptable level.

While littering is the responsibility of waste collection authorities, permission is required from National Highways before teams can pick on the side of the A12.

James Abbott said the litter looks absolutely terrible at a Braintree Council cabinet meeting on March 13 (Image: N/A)

Councillor James Abbott said at cabinet: “The A12 remains in a disgraceful state – particularly around Witham and the Kelvedon bypass.

“It does look absolutely terrible and I would think it falls below any criteria for acceptability.”

Braintree Council cabinet member John McKee said it was hoped the partnership would set some standard each council would adopt and sign up to, each one committing to litter picking their piece of the road with an agreement between National Highways and the authorities.

Litter strewn along the A12 at Witham junction (Image: N/A)

National Highways says it regularly carries out litter picking on motorways and other areas of the strategic road network.

Initiatives to address littering are also being introduced, including using CCTV in A-road laybys to gather evidence to provide to local authorities and installing larger bins which need emptying less frequently.

Every year National Highways removes around 200,000 sacks of litter from the country’s motorways.

The cost of this is around £60 a sack – about the same as fixing a pothole.

Discarded items, including non-perishable plastics along the A12 near Colchester (Image: Newsquest)

National Highways route manager for Essex Nigel Allsopp said: “Responsibility for litter picking sits with the local authority, and it would require new legislation to change this.

"However, we do work closely with local councils to provide opportunities to coordinate litter picking alongside other road maintenance or improvement works.

“Millions of people travel on our network every day and the sad reality is if litter wasn’t dropped from their vehicles in the first place, it wouldn’t need to be picked up.

“Litter on our roads can cause a hazard to drivers, our workers and wildlife. Please take your litter home with you instead. It’s not a lot to ask.”