COTSWOLD LITTER HEROES: MAKING IT HAPPEN

Local Authority Support

The aim of Cotswold Litter Heroes is to be a regional scheme, covering the whole of the Cotswold/Gloucestershire area. This requires the support of at least four Local Authorities; Cheltenham Borough Council, Stroud District Council, Tewkesbury Borough Council and Cotswold District Council. It's important the scheme operate seamlessly across the Local Authorities because:

• People are only vaguely aware of council boundaries
• Volunteers are likely to undertake litter picking outside their home district, i.e. a volunteer living in Cheltenham may well pick up litter at a location in Stroud's district
• When it comes to getting litter collected, volunteers don't want to be bothered working out which local authority is responsible

The support required from the participating authorities would include:

• Some of the funding
• Promoting the scheme on council premises and websites
• Commiting to take Litter Hero sacks as "side waste" alongside Heroes' wheelie bins
• Collecting full litter sacks when they are left in situ
• Responding promptly to flytipping and heavy littering reported by Litter Heroes

So far I have met or corresponded with staff from the waste departments of Cheltenham, Tewkesbury, Stroud and Cotswold Councils and they have been supportive and offered much constructive advice.

Other stakeholders

Other stakeholders that could help or may have an interest in the scheme include:

Parish Councils

The Conservation Board of Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Farmers

"Friends of ..." groups, e.g. Cleeve Common Board of Conservators, Friends of Leckhampton Hill

Costs

My initial thoughts are that the scheme would cost around £50,000 to set up and run for three years. The rough break down is as follows:

Equipment for Heroes Approximately £40 per head to equip each of 500 Heroes with a litter picker, hi-vis vest, pair of gloves and an initial supply of refuse sacks.	£20,000
Additional Refuse sacks/gloves	£1,000
Insurance Public Liability and Personal Injury, £5 per hero per annum. Trustees insurance £300 pa	£7,000
Website Development, maintenance and hosting	£10,000
Marketing Design and printing of leaflets, brochures and posters. Outdoors display stand, A-Boards and trailer. Advertising press/radio.	£8,000
Misc Organisers travelling expenses, phone, office consumaable, postage etc.	£4,000
TOTAL	£50,000

The above makes the big assumption that it can be done with unpaid resource, i.e. no full time staff.

Funding

My thoughts are the scheme might be funded by a mix of National Lottery Grant (50%), Local Authority Grants (40%) and Sponsorship(10%)

Web site development

The website will be a key part of the scheme. A good proportion of the functionality, already exists at sites like fixmystreet.com and communityfix.co.uk

Finding Heroes

I'm not a marketing expert, but I envisage that we will aim to find Heroes through:

• Local radio and television coverage of the launch
• Handing out leaflets to any likely looking people, e.g. ramblers, dog-walkers
• Leaflets left in appropriate locations, e.g. Libraries, walk-in centers, Council offices
• Direct leafleting
• Posters on parish noticeboards
• Stands at appropriate locations, e.g. Farmers' Markets, town squares, fairs
• Media coverage of active Heroes, e.g. when some one reaches 50 sacks of litter picked up
• Links from related websites
• Bumper stickers
• Celebrity endorsement

Copyright © Tim Barnes 2008