A new cleaning initiative in Spalding has installed CCTV at a problem walkway and sent a private firm to tackle grot spots identified during town patrols.
The scheme has been launched through the Spalding Business Improvement District (BID), with cleaning work focused mainly on private property where owners have given permission. The BID says the project is already making progress after only a few weeks.
Cleaning work and CCTV in Spalding
The initiative uses a private cleaning company to deal with locations identified by SLS UK patrols. Sarah Fletcher, the BID manager, highlighted Barber’s Cut as one of the largest clean-ups so far.
The BID has also funded CCTV for the walkway between the riverside and Double Street. The area had attracted concern from nearby businesses about its condition, and the cleaning company was brought in after the site was cleared.
According to Fletcher, the camera has already recorded somebody dumping rubbish at the location. That person has been told they can no longer dump there, she said. The Wombles of Spalding Common have also said they had never seen the area so clear.
Fletcher said the BID was not intending to take on cleaning that should be carried out by South Holland District Council. She said it would be wrong to use money from businesses for work that council tax should fund. As a result, the scheme is mainly approaching owners of private property for permission to carry out cleaning.
Business concerns about the town’s appearance
Sue Stubley, who has run Occasions Jewellers on Bridge Street for nearly 20 years, said she was frustrated by the state of parts of Spalding.
“It’s filthy and you never see the sweeper coming round.
“Parts of it look a mess. It’s great that they moved the homeless people on down Abbey Passage but now it’s covered in pigeon poo again.
“People aren’t going to want to come here if it’s not clean.
Stubley also questioned why money from projects supported by the Spalding Neighbourhood Board had not been used for town cleaning. She said there were not enough bins and raised concerns about litter being dropped when schools return.
She said wardens should be present when children are around in the morning, while stressing that the problem did not involve every child. Stubley also said she knew of someone who had recently been fined £150 for putting a cigarette butt down a drain.
What the BID says happens next
Fletcher said she understood Stubley’s frustrations and those of other businesses, but said the cleaning team was already making “tremendous progress”. She said the BID initiative was not intended to replace the council’s responsibilities, and that the team was working with private landowners to improve areas it could lawfully access.
The project therefore combines patrols, permission-based cleaning and CCTV at a location where businesses had raised concerns. Its immediate focus is on private sites rather than council-controlled areas, while the wider debate about street sweeping, bins and litter in Spalding continues.