Call for more bins in Northumberland seaside resort to cope with fish and chips litter

Hundreds of holidaymakers and day trippers have been descending on Seahouses since the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

The result has been jam-packed litter bins and additional debris caused by seagulls trying to scavenge fish and chips leftovers.

North Sunderland Parish Council is now putting in a request to Northumberland County Council for extra bins.

"We could do with a couple of bigger bins in the car park,” said Cllr Alan Trotter. “The small ones in there are way overloaded at night, especially over the bank holiday.”

Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, Bamburgh ward member on Northumberland County Council, said the street cleaning teams were already carrying out additional bin emptying.

But Cllr Trotter said: “They’re coming about 4pm but the chip shops are open until 8.30pm and between those times the bins are getting full, the gulls are going in and making a right mess.”

He is picking up what he can and putting it in a temporary wheelie bin but hopes a better solution can be found, even if just for the busy summer period.

"It’s a help but I can’t do it all the time so a couple extra bins would be great,” he said.

Cllr David Fordy added that a seafront bin is also regularly ‘jam-packed’ with litter left by beachgoers.

And Cllr Maureen Bramley believed visitors in the North Street area were putting their rubbish in the litter bins when they leave their holiday homes.

"The rubbish was all over the road coming down towards the harbour,” she said.

Cllr David Shiel, chairman, also made it clear that the harbour commission would not allow litter bins to be placed at the harbour.

Meanwhile, the parish council is to ask the county council if it could clean the bins. It has agreed to pay for them to be done once and reassess later in the year. The county council will also be asked if it could clean the nearby seats at the same time.

"It would make the area look a lot more respectable if they could be tided up,” said Cllr Trotter.

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