Phil Hughes is sick and tired of the mounting rubbish at a Narre Warren South reserve and has called on a neighbouring school to clean up their act.By Rebecca Fraser
A NARRE Warren South man claims he is banging his head against a brick wall as litter continues to mount at a local reserve.
Phil Hughes, coordinator of the Friends of River Gum Creek Reserve, has dubbed the reserve, located off Ormond Road and next to Narre Warren South P12 College, an “environmental disaster”.
He told the News last month that he was concerned the mounting rubbish would filter down to the reserve’s wetlands and nearby storm water drains.
Since then, he said the situation had worsened and felt he was losing a long battle against the increasing piles of rubbish.
Last month Mr Hughes also claimed he had seen council officers mowing over litter at the reserve instead of picking it up, and called for urgent council attention.
However, a spokesperson for Casey Council said the reserve was Melbourne Water’s responsibility, not the council’s.
“It is like trying to pull teeth out,” Mr Hughes said.
“I have tried to work with the school and I have come in and spoken to the students about the litter. We seem to be just banging our heads against a brick wall. Our only hope is that the principal of P12 College, Ross Miller, can attempt to improve the area of his school grounds and get some pride into the way his students treat the environment. At the moment, the college is causing an environmental catastrophe.”
Mr Hughes said he had also been dismayed to see someone mowing over the rubbish at the school last week, ripping it to shreds and blowing litter in all directions.
“I spoke to the contractor slashing the grass on the school property, who stated he did not get paid to pick up the litter prior to slashing the grass,” he said.
“My wife and I have been picking up the litter in this area every night since the school has been on holidays, and we thought that we had it under control for the last week or so.”
Mr Hughes said he would continue to fight the issue, despite being told this week by council that because the litter was coming from the school property, it was an Education Department issue and also the responsibility of Melbourne Water. The News was unable to contact the Narre P12 school for comment this week due to the school holidays.
Ben Pratt, a spokesperson for Melbourne Water, said they had not been made aware of the issue but would now send someone down to inspect the reserve.
