Councils join forces to make Dawley cleaner and greener

Great Dawley Parish Council and Telford & Wrekin Council are putting £25,000 and £12,500 a year respectively to a new environmental team to work in the parish.

This will employ three staff, an Environmental Maintenance operative and two apprentices, on work to help keep the Great Dawley parish even cleaner and greener.

The partnership agreement, which will run for the next five years, is another example of how Telford & Wrekin and its partners are coming together and working co-operatively to find new solutions for public services in the borough.

This work will be over above environmental work that Telford & Wrekin Council already does across the borough.

The team will cover tasks including litter picking areas and maintaining areas not covered by Telford & Wrekin, weeding, planting, leaf fall clearing, repairs to street furniture and cleaning alleyways and underpasses.

Money from the scheme may also be used to help fund new gateway signs, improving shrub and flower displays and improving surfacing.

Cllr Brian Duce, chairman of Great Dawley Parish Council, said: “Our residents are very proud of where they live and having a good clean local environment is very important to them. There will be on-going monitoring of the project to ensure we obtain value for money.

“This partnership is great way for us to ensure that our efforts are focused in the parish on the areas that are a priority for us and we are making the most of the combined resources of both councils.”

Cllr Shaun Davies, cabinet member for Environment, Co-Operative Council and Partnerships, said: “This is another great example of how willing an ever growing range of partners are to come together to give better public better local services.

“We are encouraging all parish and town councils to look at this approach and are confident that many more will follow Great Dawley’s approach.

“At a time when we face unprecedented cuts in Government funding, we have to find new ways of delivering the services that local people want and that will help make the borough cleaner and greener.

“This scheme also has the added advantage of creating new training opportunities for young people and will support our wider drive for apprenticeships across the borough.”