Mayor defends record on city centre litter
BBCThe mayor of Liverpool City Region has defended the cleanliness of the city centre in a radio phone-in after a caller suggested it was "really dirty".
Steve Rotheram was asked if litter and dirt were a problem, particularly when it came to tourism, during an appearance on BBC Radio Merseyside.
However, Rotheram said he did not recognise the characterisation, adding that the city had improved markedly since travel author Bill Bryson described a visit in the 1990s as like "a festival of litter".
He said: "I'd love him to come with me now. We'd have a walk through Liverpool One. I've just done it now and we saw one piece of litter in Liverpool One - you hardly see any chewing gum."
Rotheram conceded that outside of the Liverpool ONE shopping area, which has its own cleaning crews, and outside of the Liverpool Business Improvement District things were not always as positive.
"I do get [what the caller is] talking about because if you go up towards Hope Street, and around that area, sometimes the bins are overflowing but that this is all Liverpool City Council's purview," he said.
"They're doing everything that they possibly can because they want Liverpool to continue to be the attraction that it currently is - not just for day visitors but for people to stay here."
Last year, the city council announced it spent about £12m each year on cleaning litter and fly-tipping across the city.
Councillors approved plans to bring in a firm to crack down on offenders who failed to keep the streets clean, and to increase fines.
Rotheram said, however, that ultimately local authorities were not responsible for litter being dropped.
"It's people who are responsible for dropping litter," he said.
"Therefore we need more responsibility from individuals who are visiting here who are creating some of these problems, because you don't not necessarily see it in other places."
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