ERSKINE residents have raised fears over the safety of volunteers picking up litter at a beauty spot during lockdown.

Piles of rubbish have become a regular sight for visitors to Boden Boo, with Forestry and Land Scotland staff unable to empty bins in the area.

Last week, volunteers from the Team Up to Clean Up group collected around 25 bags of litter, which were then removed by Renfrewshire Council’s waste services team.

However, some residents and politicians have expressed concerns over volunteers being responsible for the litter-picking and believe a different approach is needed.

Jacqui Reid, vice-chair of Erskine Community Council, said: “There’s all sorts of litter at Boden Boo and I’m not entirely sure picking litter up is the right role for volunteers at the moment.

“I absolutely applaud their efforts, as I do everyone who litter-picks, but I have real concerns over the health and safety of the volunteers.

“I think Forestry and Land Scotland needs to work with the council to ensure there are patrols there to discourage people from dropping litter – or we need to come up with an alternative arrangement.”

Councillor Tom Begg, who represents Erskine and Inchinnan, said litter left at the nature reserve could be contaminated.

“You don’t know how dangerous it is,” he told The Gazette. “People are not respecting the environment and are making it unsuitable for other people.

“I would ask people to be responsible and, if it’s youngsters doing it, I would like parents to be taking action.”

Stuart Chalmers, regional visitor services manager for Forestry and Land Scotland, hit out at those responsible for dumping the litter.

He said: “It has a really negative impact on wildlife, on other people’s enjoyment of a site and on our staff, who would normally have to clean up this mess.

“With our staff only beginning to get back to field work as they emerge from Covid-19 lockdown homeworking, we were not able to get to the site to empty the bins. However, thanks to the amazing Team Up To Clean Up volunteers, the site has been cleaned up and transformed.

“We’d like to offer our sincere thanks to the volunteers.”

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