Elton, Derbyshire

Can you help Keep Elton Tidy?!

Elton is a lovely place to live. But over recent months, people have been telling me that our village is looking a bit run down and could do with a tidy up. More importantly, people tell me they want to help restore some pride in where they live.

Why have things got like this?

Sadly, both the District and County Councils are getting less and less money from the government to run services. So, they are reducing services in an effort to balance their budget. This means it is down to Parish Council’s and communities to fill in the gaps.

So what can we do?

The situation will only get worse before it gets better. So, it’s down to local residents to help keep Elton tidy.

One solution would be to have working parties that do litter picks, grass mowing, etc. This was trialled a couple of years ago, but it took too much time to organise and not everybody was free when needed.

A new idea is for local residents to come forward to adopt-a-job or part of the village to look after/keep tidy. This could be mowing a grass verge, strimming a hedge, sweeping a pavement, painting noticeboards, wiping down a bus shelter, cleaning street signs, planting a trough, filling a grit bin or anything else you think needs doing.

How much would I be expected to do?

What you want, when you want. It’s up to you. Anybody who takes on a job can do it when it suits them – when you have the time or feel it needs doing. Some jobs might need doing every week, once a fortnight, once a year and others just as and when.

Nobody will be checking up or asking ‘when will you do that?’ or ‘why aren’t you doing this?’. It’s down to you. And you can give it up if you feel you no longer can or want to do it. All jobs are voluntary and we will be relying on goodwill. Sadly, any expense cannot be reimbursed.

So what jobs want doing?

Below is a list of jobs that you could take up to help keep our village tidy. Some people might want to think about adopting an area of the village instead of jobs. You might want to take up one of these or several. You might even want to suggest something of your own. You might just want to look after a small area outside your home.

Some people are already helping by doing odd bits around the village. If you already do a job or look after a part of the village, please let me know who you and what you do so we don’t end up with somebody else doing it as well.

What do I do if I want to help?

Please contact me using the details below. I’m happy to talk through what you would like to do, allocate you a job or an area to look after or tell you what jobs still need taking up.

If there is enough interest, a list of who is doing what will be kept so know what is being done and what still needs doing.

Will this work?

That’s down to you. This is an ambitious idea and I hope enough people will come forward to contribute. If it doesn’t work, at least we can say we tried. The more people that contribute a little, the better our village will be for everybody.

A note of understanding

Finally, I appreciate that some people may begrudge this idea on the grounds of having already paid Council Tax for these services. I couldn’t agree more and understand if people decline to take part on these grounds.

I too wish that this wasn’t something we had to suggest and do. Sadly, this is how things are and services will only continue to reduce. As your district councillor I will continue to argue against any reduction in services, but for now I hope we can work together to restore some pride in our village.

Thanks for reading.

Colin Swindell
District Councillor
Address: Laburnum Cottage, Well Street, Elton, Matlock DE4 2BY
Mobile: 07816 986 956
Email: colinswindell@hotmail.co.uk
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List of Jobs that need doing in Elton…

• Cutting, strimming or mowing grass verges

• Weeding along pavements (wherever you feel you can do)

• Sweeping out/cleaning a bus shelter

• Painting a bench

• Painting a noticeboard

• Planting a trough

• Wiping down street signs and ‘street furniture’

• Filling a grit bin from village salt supply (winter only)

• Litter picking

Anything you can see wants doing that you would like to do! Let me know.

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