THE Friends of Riverside Parks have decided that for the time being they are stopping all their litter picking activities in East Holme Fields until Bradford Council deliver the services they have promised in the riverside parks in Ilkley.

Every year for the past few years the group have lobbied to see improvements in park services and in particular during the warm summer periods and school holidays. Amongst other things this has resulted in the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), but also during the warm periods promises of more regular bin collections to help tackle the enormous amounts of litter which come from increased visitor numbers, increased patrols by Neighbourhood Wardens to police the PSPO and liaise with the police to help tackle the poor behaviour of some visitors, including illegal parking by the parks and increased littering resulting from barbecues which are also banned in all Bradford parks.

The chair of Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks, Ed Duguid said: "We have consulted with our volunteers and members and were unanimous that the Council must be true to their promises and deliver these services to enable visitors to enjoy their visit without walking through a sea of litter. This followed yet another weekend where bins were not emptied regularly and were overflowing and no patrols took place. There was nowhere for visitors to put their litter even if they wanted to comply. The volunteers were just fed up having to clear up this mess and this situation has gone on year after year. This will no doubt affect people visiting the park and we are sorry to have to take this action. However, something has to be done as we are expecting more people over the next week.

"We will reconsider our position once BDMC start to fulfil their commitment to keep the park free of litter and safe. We want the parks to be a first class venue to be enjoyed by all but given the behaviour seen we expect to see clear action from BMDC on a daily basis to clear litter from East Holme Fields and to manage the space for the benefit of residents, visitors and the riverside environment.”

Bradford Council has been contacted for comment.