By NICOLE WILLIAMS
Call goes out for bins to tackle rubbish…
FROM Henk Heremans’s house he can see a footbridge leading over the railway line but it is not a pretty sight.
The Pakenham resident is up in arms about excess rubbish and a pungent drain and no one taking responsbility.
“There is a lot of rubbish dumped there, across the footbridge and the drainage is in a dreadful state and actually smells,” Mr Heremans said.
“It is in a bad state. I can see it from my lounge room window.”
The footbridge connects Henty Street with the Pakenham shopping area and is located behind Woolworths.
Mr Heremans said he would like the area cleaned up regularly or rubbish bins placed on either end of the bridge for people to bin rubbish rather than throw it.
“If there was a rubbish bin on either side of the crossing there would be an opportunity for people to do the right thing,” he said.
“I’d like to see the cross over clear of empty drinks containers and all sorts of rubbish and wrappers.
“It is just junk piled up.”
Mr Heremans said he knows the actual footbridge is well maintained by Metro Trains but other maintenance and the rubbish had become ‘nobody’s job’.
“They do a job for the crossing itself but that’s only part of it,” he said.
“It’s all a nobody’s job. That’s what makes it so frustrating. And it stinks.”
Cardinia shire councillor George Blenkhorn has taken at look at the site with Mr Heremans.
“There is a lot of litter that has been dumped by the pedestrian crossing there,” Cr Blenkhorn said.
“It is just untidy and is a mess.”
Cr Blenkhorn said it was not council land but Cardinia Shire Council would look into alternatives with Metro Trains.
“Council staff are aware and are looking into alternatives,” he said.
“An option is to put a small bin near the bus stop and hope people use that.”
Metro Trains did not respond to the News’s requests for comment.
