BCP Council leader defends four-letter word anti-litter poster

BCP Council leader Drew Mellor defended the authority’s latest anti-litter campaign which suggests a four-letter word to encourage people to clean up after themselves.

Cllr Michael Brooke, Broadstone Lib Dem, said the campaign has caused offence and upset people in the area because of the nature of the messaging, writes Trevor Bevins of the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said at a meeting of the full council: “There are 56 four-letter words ending in ‘it’, but only one word which fits all the different statements on the posters. That word begins with the letters ‘sh’.

“As a family person with young children, does the leader regard the implied language used in this campaign as appropriate for a council which is promoting the area as a family destination?”

Cllr Mellor said although he thought the question fair, he still backed the poster campaign.

“We need to find ways of saying to our whole community that littering is unacceptable," he said.

"We’ve got an innovative campaign which has got some national credibility.

"What we are doing here is to talk to the small, small minority of people who don’t respond to more traditional campaigns.”

He said the council would welcome feedback on the campaign which is part of its summer response programme.