Published: Friday, 3rd July, 2009 12:59pm

Big Summer Beach Blitz for South Ayrshire

by Roisin McGroarty

Print | Email

The Tiser hit the streets to see what YOU think

WITH the kids out for the summer holidays and the sun making the odd appearance Ayr"s beach is getting pretty crowded - but what is being done to clear the rubbish from our prime tourist attraction.

Hoards of people flock to South Ayrshire for our glorious coastline but with that comes an sharp increase in litter.

But behind the scenes there are several folk whose jobs are dedicated to keeping it clean and tidy.

Speaking about the major daily cleaning operations, area co-ordinator Ken Harkin said: 'We area really, really busy at the moment. One of the biggest complaints we get is on irresponsbile dog owners and we want to promote that, we have encouragement teams to regulate that. It is a £50 fine for litter and £40 for dog fouling.

'Also with barbecues, if anyone has one please, please extinguish it with water before putting it in the plastic bins. Each bin costs £440 and the last few years the average is we needed 10 new bins.

'The council don"t drop the litter, we don"t throw it down but if somewhere"s dirty we get the complaints.

'We have so many bins, people should take responsibility for their litter, it is in everyone"s interest."

For the full story see this week's paper - on sale now!