Safer Cleaner Greener

Young people learn with fun at 3rd Annual Public Services Day

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20160608_112055Heather Stout, from the Ovenden and Mixenden Initiative, organised the 3rd Annual Public Services Day to be held in North Halifax this week.

Junior Wardens from Ash Green Community Primary School, Mount Pellon Primary Academy and Moorside Community Primary School attended the event on Wednesday 8 June held at Halifax Rugby Union Ground.

Services who attended to explain the jobs they do in the communities included:

  • West Yorkshire Police
  • West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
  • Calderdale Council Safer Cleaner Green Team
  • Calderdale Council Recycling Team
  • Calderdale Council ASB Team
  • Calderdale Council Community Wardens
  • Calderdale Council Countryside Team
  • Calderdale Council Environmental Health Team

20160608_122842The annual event is organised so that young people can learn about some of the important work that takes place on a daily basis in and around their communities.

All the services gave fantastic demonstrations of their jobs including West Yorkshire Police who also allowed the young people to try on a uniform and the Fire Service who demonstrated the use of a hose.

20160608_112055There were demonstrations from the Safer Cleaner Greener Team as well as talks from other services such as Calderdale Council Community Wardens and although the day is mainly to help get a serious message across to young people the event was fun filled and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Moorside Junior Wardens clean up Beechwood Park

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Junior Wardens and Collected LitterThe first national anti-litter campaign took place in 1953, the year of the Queen’s coronation and ahead of the Queen’s 90th birthday on Thursday 21 April, the ‘Clean for the Queen’ campaign aims to inspire people to take action and enjoy a few hours together whilst litter picking to improve the state of the communities we live in.

Wednesday 13 April saw 9 Junior Wardens from Moorside Community School get out in the community once again and together with the Calderdale SCG Partnership with the weather on their side they helped clean up Beechwood Park which saw a lot of litter collected.

PCSO's Alice Cordingley and Katie LeemanSince the start of the campaign approximately 800 bags of litter have been collected, with the biggest successes coming from removing overhanging vegetation within terraced housing areas, and removing fly-tipping which approached 17 tonnes and was made up of mattresses, settees and builders’ rubble.

Services involved were Sam Ward and Paul Calvert from the Calderdale Safer Cleaner Greener Team, West Yorkshire Police PCSO’s  Alice Cordingley and Katie Leeman, Community Warden’s Ced Oakley and David Pickard as well as Karen Scanlon and Matthew Scott Thompson from Ovenden Initiative.

We need to talk about Beechwood Park…

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On a mild Saturday morning back in February 40 people came along to St Andrews Church on Beechwood Road to talk about current issues in their area. From the conversation a number of issues were raised about Beechwood Park and the surrounding streets, including:

  • Speeding traffic on Shay Lane, Beechwood Road, Watkinson Road
  • Parking around Moorside school
  • Litter and rubbish being dumped in the in the area, and people using the compost site at the park for general rubbish
  • Damaged footbridges in the park
  • A lack of dog poo bins
  • Poor street lighting on Beechwood Drive/Park car park
  • Suspected drug dealing in the Beechwood Drive car park

Fortunately it’s not all bad news because on Tuesday 29 March, 20 local residents attended a meeting to discuss forming a Friends of Beechwood Park group and taking matters into their own hands to keep Beechwood Park one of the nicest parks in Calderdale.

And Calderdale Council’s Safer Cleaner Greener Team have been out and removed the reported rubbish, PC Dave Illingworth has conducted a speed check on Beechwood Road and Tony King from the Ovenden Initiative spoke to Trinity Academy about their pupils dropping litter on the way to school.

As a result there are a number of events coming up over the next 6 months that you too can get involved in:

  • Wednesday 13 April, 10am – Park Clean-Up with Moorside School Junior Wardens
  • Saturday 23 April at 10am – Park Walkabout with the Friends of Beechwood Park
  • Tuesday 31 May at 6.30pm – Friends of Beechwood Park Meeting at St Andrews Church, Beechwood Road
  • Wednesday 13 July at 10am  – Park Clean-Up with Trinity Academy students
  • Wednesday 12 October at 10am – Park Clean-Up with Trinity Academy students

Anyone is welcome to join in these events. For clean-ups – litter pickers and bags will be provided but please remember to wear strong shoes and bring protective gloves.

In the meantime, please continue to report dumped rubbish, litter and dog fouling to Calderdale Council. You can do this online here, or ring the Customer First Contact Centre on 01422 288002

For suspected drug dealing please try to record any times/descriptions of vehicles/persons and ring the information through to West Yorkshire Police on 101.

Moorside Junior Wardens Help Clean for the Queen

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Junior Wardens from Moorside Community School helped the Safer Cleanner Greener Team clean up in and around the school area at Moorside, Ovenden.

SCG team and Junior WardensPictured – Moorside Junior Wardens, Pc Kim McCloskey West Yorkshire Police, Ced Oakley CMBC Community Warden, CMBC Safer Cleaner Greener Team, Bryan Smith Ovenden Ward Councillor and Karen Scanlon from The Ovenden Initiative.

Clean for the Queen logo

Clean for The Queen is a campaign to clear up Britain in time for Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th birthday, which will be officially celebrated in June 2016.

When she came to the throne litter was not the problem that it is today. Food packaging, plastic bottles, takeaway meals and cigarette butts have all contributed to a growing menace that affects our wildlife, streets, countryside and sense of pride. What better way could we show our gratitude to Her Majesty than to clean up our country?

The Moorside Junior wardens got stuck in and removed over 25 bags of rubbish and helped clean up waste land at the side of the school and around the Moorside area.

New Junior Warden Scheme at Moorside Community Primary School

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The Junior Wardens from Moorside Community School pictured with the Safer Cleaner Greener Partnership, Dom Furby Station Commander from West Yorkshire Fire Service, Matt Scott-Thompson Ovenden Initiative, Chris Crossley CMBC Recycling Team, Robert Baker, Anthony Keyzer and Paul Calvert Safer Cleaner Greener Team, Emma Pilling Pennine Housing 2000, Kim McCloskey Ovenden Ward Officer for West Yorkshire Police and Hayley Conlon Neighbourhood Teams

The Junior Wardens from Moorside Community School pictured with the Safer Cleaner Greener Partnership, Dom Furby Station Commander from West Yorkshire Fire Service, Matt Scott-Thompson Ovenden Initiative, Chris Crossley CMBC Recycling Team, Robert Baker, Anthony Keyzer and Paul Calvert Safer Cleaner Greener Team, Emma Pilling Pennine Housing 2000, Kim McCloskey Ovenden Ward Officer for West Yorkshire Police and Hayley Conlon Neighbourhood Teams

The Junior Warden schemes run by the Ovenden Initiative in partnership with The Safer Cleaner Greener Partnership has been set up at Moorside School Ovenden to look at tackling issues within the Ovenden community.

A questions and answers session was held with SCG partners to look at the role of the officer, how they can and will work in partnership with the Junior Wardens who will also be involved in a Public Services day in June with the SCG Partnership.

Karen Scanlon from the Ovenden Initiative said

“The Junior warden scheme is a team of children and young people who are dedicated to helping clean their environment and assist in helping to improve their community’s quality of life.”

“As a team we will identify environmental and safety problems with our area and report them. Encourage friends, family and our community to look after the environment and the safety of others and be proud of where we live and help make our neighbourhood a better place to live.”

The scheme started with an interview process where the new wardens were interviewed by their Head teacher Mrs Worthington, Community Street Warden Ced Oakley, Ovenden Initiative Karen Scanlon and Police Support Officers Trevor Lovelock and Katy Leeman.

The wardens were asked why they want to be a warden and below are some of the fantastic replies we received.

The Junior Wardens have already been very busy out and about taking to parents at Moorside school about attending the next Ovenden Ward Forum due to be held at the Moorside School on Thursday 17 March 2016 to look at the development of the new school for Moorside.

The wardens will help facilitate the meeting which starts at 6pm on the night for refreshments and on Wednesday 16 March the Junior Wardens will be involved with a Clean for the Queen in conjunction with the Queens 90th Birthday celebrations in and around the Moorside area.

Look out for the wardens out and about in the Ovenden Community.

Mount Pellon Junior Wardens help highlight vandalism

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Vandalism PostersMount Pellon Primary Academy invited Calderdale Council’s Safer Cleaner Greener team to attend the school and talk to junior wardens about the negative impact of criminal damage and vandalism, not only on the school but also the wider community.

The Mount Pellon Junior Wardens have produced posters which will be put up around the school premises in order to highlight and help tackle the problem.

One of the Council’s priorities is to improve the quality of the environment and promote respect for Calderdale’s heritage so if you notice any issues within your area such as Graffiti, you can report it online via the Council’s Clean Streets webpage.

Mount Pellon clean up well received by local residents

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On Wednesday 27 May 2015 a clean up event took place in Mount Pellon which involved staff from the North Halifax Neighbourhood team, CMBC’s safer cleaner greener team, Community Wardens, Ward Councillor and residents from the area.

WP_20150527_001The event was very successful overall with local residents getting involved throughout the morning and Tony King ward coordinator for the area and organiser of the clean-up said:

“The clean up was well received by local residents who were really appreciative and responded well to the event by getting rid of bulky items including old furniture, 3 piece suites and old mattresses”

A grant from the Warley ward forum paid for a large skip and together with CMBC cage vans, pickups and street cleaning vehicles over 10 tonnes of bulky waste items and household rubbish were removed from the Mount Pellon area.