For those of you reading this from Chippenham, you will have recently received a letter about potential plans for a Lidl on the corner of Hungerdown Lane and Bristol Road. A public consultation is being held on 14th September, and while I will be working all day and unable to attend, I wanted to share what I wrote to those collecting feedback.
As an anti-litter organisation, we are not anti-business. Instead, we want businesses to think about the impact they have and to do what they can to mitigate this. It doesn’t necessarily take a lot of money, time, or effort – just a little bit of foresight and planning.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am the chair of local anti-litter group Off the Ground, a community initiative that is working for a cleaner Chippenham through a campaign of education and litter prevention. In general I believe a new Lidl would be a good use of the space identified along Hungerdown Lane and is something that will be of benefit to Chippenham. However, I was wondering whether Lidl had a
litter mitigation strategy to take into account the additional footfall and traffic it would bring, which in turn will bring further litter.
- Many supermarkets have bins immediately outside the doors of their premises, but litter commonly ends up in the car park and along the roads leading from the shop. Would Lidl consider working with Wiltshire Council to install and maintain new bins along Hungerdown Lane and Bristol Road? These could be sponsored by Lidl and serve as advertising.
- Shops have a statutory requirement to clean within 100m of their premises. Research also shows that areas that are clean tend to stay clean, whereas litter attracts even more litter. Is Lidl willing to have their staff clean the car park and nearby areas several times a day to keep the area looking good?
- We recognise that it is the customers, not the supermarkets, who cause the vast majority of litter. However, would Lidl be willing to send a message to their customers with a positive anti-litter campaign, e.g. posters in the shop, signs, an encouragement to recycle, etc.? For example, we recently ran the Love Chippenham campaign and posters are available to use.
- Direct litter from supermarkets includes skips and cardboard collection points that are poorly secured; a strong wind is enough to send everything flying. Could Lidl ensure that lids or nets are used to keep its own rubbish and recycling under control?
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries, and I look forward to hearing more about Lidl’s plans in due course.
Kind regards,
Elaine Massung