Hansard

I start by thanking my colleague Kenneth Gibson for bringing the debate to Parliament.

Fans of the hit TV show “Seinfeld” may recall the episode when the eccentric Kramer announces with great delight that he has become the proud father of a 1-mile stretch of road and that he is part of the solution. In typical fashion, he decides that he will do everything himself and will even bring the roadside home to clean in the sink. Unfortunately, the episode ends in disaster after he decides to widen the lanes and spills flammable paint thinner everywhere. Civic pride is important, although perhaps not in that instance.

Prior to being elected as an MSP, I was a councillor at South Ayrshire Council. I was always extremely frustrated by the litter that was left on the side of the roads, our beaches and our streets, the anger created by and, sometimes, the public perception of litter.

As a councillor, I received many angry emails from constituents who walked past litter, got their phones out and took a photo, emailing a complaint to me about the lack of council litter services. I genuinely believe that some people have an expectation that, because they pay council tax and therefore pay people to lift the litter for them, they do not need to lift litter and have no responsibility themselves. The blame seems to be put on the council instead of the real culprits.

South Ayrshire Council covers close to 400 square miles, and in my constituency Barassie, Troon, Prestwick and Ayr all have a large beach. In the summer, our beaches are destination points for thousands to flock to and enjoy the sun. Our beaches have wooden footprint signs that say “Leave nothing here but footprints”, but unfortunately that is never what happens.

I remember one extremely sunny day when my daughter was at the beach with my mother while I was working. I went down after 5 pm and there were thousands of people on the beach and in the water. The entire beach was littered with empty drink cartons, soiled nappies and discarded towels, buckets and spades. I was a councillor at the time and knew only too well that we had issues with water quality at Ayr beach and that, if that litter was not collected, it would all be washed out to sea that night.

I put out a call on my social media and thankfully around 40 volunteers turned up with under an hour’s notice to meet at 6 pm at the beach, once most of the crowds had gone. We removed the rubbish so that it did not go out to sea. It would have been impossible for the council workers to remove all the litter from every beach in South Ayrshire that evening.

As a ward councillor, I also held Ayr town centre blitzes once a month to highlight the problem with litter on private property, which is outwith the council’s responsibility. A group of volunteers and I committed just one hour on a Saturday when we would go to private properties, such as tracks to the train station and private car parks, which many people walk through, and remove litter. In some months, depending on how many volunteers turned up, we collected more than 40 bags of rubbish in one hour. We left Ayr a better place, and we felt better about it.

Many of us have civic pride and want to clean the world, but it should not be left for just a few to do. We must all have civic pride, and the desire and responsibility, to look after not only our communities but our nation, other countries that we visit and, collectively, our world.

Kenneth Gibson has already explained how the scheme works. An individual organisation adopts a small stretch of road, taking responsibility for picking up the litter and keeping it clean. Those organisations can contribute to the community and businesses can get promotion and advertising out of it.

There has been huge uptake of the scheme in the USA, with every state having an adopt-a-road programme. The state of Texas led the way with its slogan “Don’t mess with Texas”, encouraging people to put their litter in the bin and take pride in their area. As Kenneth Gibson said, 120,000 people in California have taken part, removing litter and graffiti and planting trees and wildflowers along more than 15,000 miles of roadside.

As I have said, it is not realistic to expect the council to clean up every bit of litter across its area. I think that the adopt-a-road programme would prove successful in South Ayrshire because it would allow individuals and groups to split up what is a large area, caring for a small part of it. It is a sad sight to drive along a road with plastic bottles and crisp packets lying everywhere. It reflects badly on our area and on the country as a whole when visitors see that.

The people of Scotland have already shown that they will engage with moves to address the problem. In my constituency, Alloway Rotary, the Rotary Club of Ayr, Prestwick Community Council and the friends of Troon have been doing such work for many years. That demonstrates the community spirit that the people of Scotland have.

I conclude with this quote:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”