Banbury area streets and parks get an autumn 'spring clean'

Autumn's falling leaves and dying vegetation are giving Cherwell's street cleaning teams a chance to deep clean the roads and parks.
Paul Berry gets to work in one of Banbury's parksPaul Berry gets to work in one of Banbury's parks
Paul Berry gets to work in one of Banbury's parks

The falling of the leaves when autumn changes to winter is a time when people’s thoughts turn to warm clothes, switching on the central heating and planning for Christmas – but for the district's parks and street cleaners it’s the time to roll up their sleeves and do a really deep clean.

Paul Berry, who lives in Bloxham, has worked in the Street Cleaning Team at Cherwell District Council for more than a year and takes pride in the appearance of the Banbury parks he cleans and tidies on a daily basis.

Mr Berry and his colleagues pinpoint November as the time when the vegetation has died back enough for them to reach areas they have not been able to access and undertake a really deep clean.

The council does the work on behalf of Banbury Town Council who own the parks.

He said: “This is a really important time of year for us. The other week at Hastings Park in Banbury I was finally able to clean a large area I’d not previously been able to tackle. Similarly there are areas of Spiceball Park in Banbury where there are brambles that we’ve only just recently been able to give a really proper clean up.”

Mr Berry previously worked with Cherwell District Council’s wider street-cleaning team and was later deployed to a smaller team dealing with Banbury’s parks. The cleanliness of streets and parks was an area people highlighted as important in a council conducted its annual resident satisfaction survey earlier this year.

Paul said: “We empty the bins and generally clean and tidy the parks. We’ll report back to the office if we spot graffiti or if there are things I can’t pick up myself such as fly-tipping. I cover Hastings Park, Spiceball Park, Easington Park and Moorfields Park and Trinity Park and other open spaces like Hanwell Fields and Horton View.

“The general sense of job satisfaction comes from being able to look around a park when we’ve finished and know we’ve left it in a much better condition than when we started..

“Every day I want to do the best job I can.There’s no part of my job I don’t like but there are niggles like when people have sprayed graffiti or thoughtlessly dropped a load of rubbish. Occasionally we’ll find items we have to report to the police. However, this is what we are here to do – we keep the place tidy on behalf of Cherwell District Council for the people who live in our area - and we enjoy doing it," said Mr Berry.

“I’ve been doing my current job now long enough now to know all of the regular dog-walkers and I’ll get a cheery 'good morning Paul' from them. The dogs know me too.

“From a young age my parents used to take us on long walks, so I am a person who likes being outdoors and that has been a theme in all my jobs. We have big waterproofs and warm clothes for the winter ahead but I am quite thick-skinned about the weather. I enjoy working outside."

Mike Hall, Recreation and Amenities Manager for Banbury Town Council, said: "Cherwell District Council's cleansing team are contracted by Banbury Town Council to undertake the litter picking, emptying of litter and dog bins of parks and open spaces within our ownership and have been doing so for nearly five years now. The cleansing team has provided a very good service, which has led to the contract being continued for the foreseeable future."