The Mount’s Messy Reality of Anti-social Behaviour

Published on: 16 Jul, 2020
Updated on: 18 Jul, 2020

Litter in fields by The Mount found by residents on the morning of Saturday, July 11.

Complaints about anti-social behaviour on The Mount continue. One resident has sent in photographs of one night’s litter-strewn aftermath.

She said: “These photos were taken on our walk on The Mount this morning, July 11.

“I would not like my name publicised but I feel compelled to send these to highlight the ongoing problem and total disregard of public areas, the environment and animals inhabiting The Mount and surrounding area.”

Told The Dragon would forward the images to Guildford Borough Council and Surrey Police for comment she replied: “Thank you, I’m at a loss what to do.

“My husband and I are so grateful to live in such a beautiful and safe environment and this sort of thing calls all of that into question.”

The same area panning right.

Council leader Caroline Reeves (Lib Dem, Friary & St Nicolas), said: “The amount of littering in our parks and countryside is appalling and we are really disappointed that a small minority of people continue to cause damage to our environment. It is illegal, costly and extremely harmful to our wildlife.

“We recently launched an anti-littering campaign with support from the Surrey Wildlife Trust and Surrey Hills AONB giving a bold, clear message for residents to not toss their litter and if bins are full to ‘take litter home’.

“Littering is a global issue and we followed the initiative which originated in New Zealand.

Items of litter left were large and small.

“This unacceptable behaviour has happened in line with the easing of government restrictions. We completely understand how difficult the past few months have been but we have suddenly found there is twice as much litter as an average week in the school holidays.

“We’ve repeatedly asked politely but we are still seeing increasing amounts of litter.

“We work collaboratively with the police and with countryside partners to combat anti-social behaviour and littering.

“Local neighbourhood teams are making more patrols in areas such as the Mount to discourage littering and anti-social behaviour. Those who litter can face up to a £150 fine for dropping litter or up to £2,500 if it goes to court.”

“Residents and visitors can report litter on our website: www.guildford.gov.uk/litter.”

No response has been received from Surrey Police.

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