By John Baron
Farnley Balancing Reservoir is ‘littered with shopping trolleys, bikes and so much litter’ and is urgent need of a cleanup, local residents have said.
WLD has been contacted by concerned residents in the past fortnight, amid concerns for the safety of wildlife, such as swans, who use the reservoir.
Nicky Abbott said: “I would like some help getting someone to take notice of the disgusting state of Farnley Reservoir.
“Today there was a dead swan in the reservoir and someone has erected a tent in the middle of the reservoir. It is littered with shopping trolleys, bikes and so much litter.”
And Emma Louise Rusholme also expressed concerns over wildlife on ‘X’ – formerly known as Twitter:
Responding to concerns, a Yorkshire Water spokesperson told WLD: “We are in the process of arranging a litter pick to help support the community tidy up the area and are looking at longer-term plans for the reservoir.”
Farnley Balancing Reservoir holds water back from the lower Wortley Valley and protects homes and business from flooding.
“We are in the process of arranging a litter pick to help support the community tidy up the area and are looking at longer-term plans for the reservoir.” What they really mean is that “We don’t want to actually employ anyone to do the job, we want to use free volunteer labour. We need to look after our shareholders and their dividends”. The whole of Farnley is a tip at the moment – litter, potholes and grass verges turned to mud baths.
But a lot of the things you mention are caused by the members of that community, so why shouldn’t they get involved in sorting it out? And we all know that any extra costs relating to this type of thing will be passed on in the form of higher water bills, not, as you say, any reductions in shareholder dividends.
I suspect that those “involved in sorting it out” will not be those who “caused” the things. Sure, if we can identify those causing the harm, then get them to fix it.
No I agree that they won’t be the same people, but communities need to learn how to bring up their young people properly and control their behaviour. If some of the locals are involved in the tidy up, maybe eventually that more considerate approach to your surroundings and other people could filter downwards.
I suspect you have a more generous assessment of human nature than I do. The people who do this stuff laugh at the concept of community, and their parents have given them this attitude. They simply don’t care and can not be made to care.
The reservoir needs dredging . That’s why the ring road keeps flooding . I thought that’s why we paid our water rates to Yorkshire Water