Thornhill
Tidy Team In
three years the appearance of the Thornhill area has been
turned around. With up to ten Tidy Team members working every
day, its cleanliness index has been improved from one of the
worst to the best in Southampton ! Martin Willcox who co-ordinates
the team says, ‘We are very committed to improving the quality
of Thornhill's environment but we need help from everyone
because we can't maintain our high standards and invest more
time in improvements.'
The
Tidy Team work on maintaining and developing the council-owned
green areas of grassland, shrub / flower beds and woodland,
as well as street cleanliness, involving a compact sweeping
machine and litter picking.
Bob
Reeve as Tidy Together Co-ordinator is the community liaison
link between the Tidy Team, the local community and partner
organisations. He sees working together as the key to sustaining
a ‘cleaner, greener' Thornhill.
“The
Tidy Team is expending around 60% of resources on litter.
If people would simply use bins, take their litter home and
keep the area around their home clean, we could invest much
more time improving the green open spaces and making them
more leisure and wildlife friendly – that way everyone would
feel happier!” 
It
is the residents that play the biggest part in sustaining
Thornhill’s improvements to its open spaces. Bob Reeve,
Tidy Together Co-ordinator, who acts as the community liaison
link between the Tidy Team and Southampton City Council, is
encouraged by the locals who interact with his team. “There’s
a false perception that the City Council are here forever.
People of Thornhill are now taking more responsibility for
their environment. We’ve had excellent feedback from
locals informing us about specific areas that need attention.” The
Tidy Team work on street cleanliness, involving a sweeping
machine and litter picking, as well as maintaining the council-owned
green areas, such as grassland, shrub beds and some woodland.
Bob
believes that Thornhill's young people as future citizens
are the key to longer term improvements, so he spends a lot
of time in schools and youth centres. He is currently running
a ‘U-Tidy' competition for youngsters and setting up biodiversity
projects so the wider community can be part of creating a
cleaner Thornhill with a lot more colour and wildlife. A
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