Queen’s 90th birthday will be officially celebrated in June 2016, month long events for everyone to participate, from street parties, kids’ bouncing castles to dinner and dance at prestigious venues. “Clean for the Queen” is one of the worthiest initiatives to emerge so far.
Having visited some of the best kept cities in Europe, like Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin and Helsinki, our prestigious London lags far behind when it comes to cleanliness, tree lined streets, roads, lightings and open spaces to reduce population density. London is on building spree, every brown space is covered with high-rising buildings, as there is chronic housing shortage.
With rising popularity of fast-food, streets are littered as soon as they are cleaned by hard pressed Council who are pruning down such services due to extreme financial constrain imposed by the Government. So such self-help groups throughout the country is blessing and boom for the nation, as they do not only clean streets but woodlands, sandy beaches, rivers and waterways that are so often littered with plastics bottles and carrier bags, thus endangering wildlife, flora and fauna without discrimination.
Half-hearted efforts by Government to reduce use of plastic bags is a tiny step in right direction but government should declare all-out war on polluters with heavy fines for businesses and fly-tippers, revenue generated should be ploughed back to keep London clean.
Kumudini Valambia
By email
