KIND-HEARTED residents are being reminded to stay safe when picking up litter across the county.

Thanking community-spirited groups for their efforts, Wiltshire Council reminded people to stay safe by not collecting litter on busy roads.

Both the A303 and A36 are busy main roads that are managed by National Highways, but Wiltshire Council has a statutory duty to collect litter, the authority said.

To collect litter on these roads, the council has to seek permission from National Highways and put measures in place to minimise disruption to road users.

Sometimes, this may require traffic management such as stop/go signalling or even full lane closures to keep teams safe – and it’s for this reason that the public and community groups should not look to pick litter along any main road.

Cllr Caroline Thomas, cabinet member for Streetscene, said: “I’d like to thank all those high-viz heroes and community groups throughout Wiltshire who give up their free time to make our beautiful county a nicer place to live.

“However, it’s really important that they do so safely, and that means not litter picking on main roads.

“We work closely with partners such as National Highways and town councils to ensure safe and efficient litter collection throughout the county, and on the A36 our litter picking work will begin in April.

“Of course, if people didn’t litter our county, we wouldn’t need to collect anything – but unfortunately, there are people who just don’t seem to care about their community or the environment.

“It costs us £100,000 each time to collect litter on trunk roads; this is money that we could be spending on essential services for our communities.

“In our Business Plan we have committed to take responsibility for the environment, and we’d urge everyone to dispose of litter properly – it’s easy for drivers to just take it home with them and then put it in the bin.”

Anyone who would like information or support relating to a community litter pick should contact the Streetscene community engagement manager via wiltshirehelpdesk@idverde.co.uk.

To report litter, people can go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mywilts.