Bray goes from near worst to first and is crowned Ireland's cleanest town

THERE WAS delight in Bray, Co Wicklow, yesterday as the town was declared Ireland’s cleanest town in the final Irish Business Against Litter survey of 2009.

Bray improved from being one of Ireland’s dirtiest towns, in a similar survey in 2008.

However while there was delight in Bray, disappointment and disbelief were expressed by tidy towns committee members and local authorities in Wicklow town and Limerick city, as they were found to be Irelands two dirtiest urban centres for 2009.

Speaking to The Irish Times after the announcement of the cleanest town, John Nolan, president of Bray Chamber, ascribed the turnaround to a co-ordinated, community effort involving Bray Town Council, the chamber, a new litter task force and a new local tidy towns committee.

However, farther south, tidy towns members in Wicklow were shocked at the town’s poor showing. President of the local chamber Martina Robinson said: “We can’t believe it as we have done so much in the last year.”

Among the improvement works she said had been carried out were new cobblelock pavements put in place by the town council, new hanging flower baskets, new pathways and new lighting of the towns bridges at night, as well as concerted action by Wicklow Tidy Towns committee.

“I wonder when it was judged, and how we could do worse than last year, after all these improvements?”

Director of environmental and emergency services with Limerick City Council Caroline Curley expressed similar emotions.

“We were given some advance notice of this in June when we were told of particular blackspots in three areas, and we worked on that, so that in the final adjudication, the three were reduced to two.”

What had particularly disappointed the city council, Ms Curley added, “was that one of the two remaining litter blackspots was outside the city council area, over which it had no control.

“We are confused about the result. In 2008 we were ‘clean to EU norms’ and we have done more clean-ups and spend €3 million a year on cleaning by a staff of 45, but have come out as a litter blackspot. I wonder when the survey was taken, was it a bad day?”

A spokesman for Irish Business Against Litter said poor results were a disappointing feature for the towns involved but the survey had gone a long way to promoting clean streets. He pointed to the turnabout in the position of Bray as an example of what could be achieved.

An Taisce, which conducted the litter surveys, also commended Bray. “The overall presentation of the Main Street speaks volumes – clearly big efforts are being made to encourage people to shop local and a very attractive environment has been provided.”

It said “paving, bins, planting etc were all in excellent condition and the area was spotless. The promenade was immaculate – it wasn’t just clear of litter but in impeccable condition.”

Dr Tom Cavanagh of Irish Business Against Litter said cutbacks in budgets should not mean a reversal of the progress made on litter.