About 70 needles found in city clean-up drive
Peterborough Litter WomblesAbout 70 discarded drug needles were uncovered during a clean-up project in a city centre.
Peterborough City Council's staff and councillors joined other volunteer litter-pickers on Wednesday and Thursday to remove rubbish, erase graffiti, jet wash streets and advise businesses of their licensing requirements in the city.
The initiative, called Operation Horizon, also tackled issues such as street drinking and rough sleeping.
Chris Wiggin, a cabinet member for environment at the authority, said he was "shocked" by what the teams discovered around the city's Embankment area, adding: "One of our teams found over 71 drug needles which has now been cleaned up."
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"We also found evidence of homeless people living in the woods and we were looking at the river front to see what we can do to make it a nicer place for people to enjoy," Wiggin, a Liberal Democrat councillor, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Long-term project
Last year, the council installed five new needle bins to help tackle the visibility of discarded drug paraphernalia.
There are now 15 needle bins across the city, which have had more than 2,600 needles deposited in them since 2019.
Wiggin said some fly-tipping, which included items bearing names and addresses, was also found on Potters Way.
The council carried out the operation alongside partners including Peterborough Positive and Cambridgeshire Police.
"Their aim was to sort out the issues that residents say blight their experience of 'going into town'," a spokesperson for the project said.
Shabina Qayyum, the leader of Peterborough City Council, noted that Operation Horizon was a "continuous effort" that would see the team of staff, councillors and other volunteers meet every few months to keep on top of the issues that harm the city centre.
"This is not just a one-off spring clean," she said.
"We have a renewed focus on our city centre and residents will be able to see a change in the look and feel of our city centre over the coming weeks and months.
"We are listening to you, and we are heralding in a cleaner, safer city for you all," she added.
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