Community failed to get involved in Dalton Park cleanup, say council

“Disappointed, but not surprised,” was how Cllr Michael Dollard felt when he heard that the community in Dalton Park had failed to get involved in cleaning up the area. He was told that money had been provided for a clean-up, but local residents had to be involved if it was to be sustained.

Cllr Dollard raised the issue at a recent meeting of the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District when he asked that the area be included in any future anti-dumping initiatives. He was told that the environment section of the council tried to engage with the local community, but their attempts have not been successful to date.

They will try to continue to work with the community to advance the project during the year.

Cllr Dollard said from talking to residents, he ascertained that in many instances it was people from different areas that were dumping in Dalton Park. He said one resident told him it was not his responsibility to pick up other people’s rubbish and put it in a skip.

Cllr Dollard, who lives 100 metres from the estate, said that security gates were to be put up there and urged that this be done to stop dumping in the future. They have been put up in Grange and other areas, why not in Dalton Park?, he asked.

He questioned what would happen if local people were not prepared to help – would this area be “left this way for ever and a day?”

The mayor, Cllr Aoife Davitt, said it was hard to keep community spirit up when they were having to clean up what was not their doing and called for action against those response for the dumping.

Cllr Ken Glynn said that dumping was a problem in many areas and said cameras should be installed to combat it.

David Jones, director of services, said it was no good the council simply going in and cleaning up an area and then having to go back again in three months. That was part of the solution, but there must be “buy in” by the local community.

Mr Jones appealed to the councillors to ask the local community to engage with the council on this.

Deirdre Reilly, acting district manager, said that she was not sure whether security gates had been ordered for Dalton Park, but stressed that the council wanted to resolve this issue and the environment officer, John Jackson, would be striving to do so.