BACK after the summer break, West Craven councillors showed they had done their "holiday homework".

Before the July holidays, members of Pendle Council's West Craven committee were asked to come up with lists of specific areas which could benefit from the new Pendle Pride initiative.

The scheme aims to give the borough a facelift through increasing public awareness and education, special cleansing operations to target "grot spots", and tough action on persistent offenders.

Council officers are planning a range of measures, including:

* fixed penalty notices for littering and dog fouling

* street litter control notices and litter control zones

* writing to householders who persistently put out rubbish too far in advance of the weekly refuse collection

* continuing to monitor known grot spots

* training more staff to take action against littering and dog fouling offenders

* installing more dog mess bins

* devoting more officer time to promoting environmental awareness and taking firm action against persistent offenders.

West Craven committee members were advised to think in terms of the Ten Ps -- Pendle Pride tackling problem plots, problem properties, problem pets and problem posters.

With that in mind, they were asked to come up with lists of areas to tackle under the new initiative as their "summer holiday homework".

At the committee's August meeting, Coun David Whipp said number one on his list was a council-owned plot of land at the bottom of Earl Street, Barnoldswick, where there had been a build-up of bin bags and litter.

Other problems listed in Barnoldswick included litter on the grassed verges along Kelbrook Road; a bad dog mess problem in Coates Lane; similar problems in Brogden Lane and Ben Lane where dog mess bins were needed; litter and broken glass in Clough Park and a "drinking den" in Valley Gardens; litter traps near the shop on Coates Avenue and at Long Ing bridge; shopping trolleys dumped in local becks; general litter and dog mess problems at Vicarage Road, Lower Park Street garage site, Park Avenue and Myers Street, Victoria Road, Valley Road, Fernbank Avenue and Powell Street.

In Earby Ward, some of the problems listed included litter at the bottom of Salterforth Road in Earby and the Kelbrook end of Kelbrook Road; the layby at the bottom of Wysick Hill, Earby; an overflowing litter bin on Kelbrook Bridge which needed more regular emptying.

Earby Parish Council representative Chris Tennant added that there were litter and dog mess problems at Birley Playing Fields, where litter bins and a dog mess bin had been seen "sailing down the beck".

Pendle's environmental services manager Richard Whittle noted all the sites and promised they would get special attention under the new Pendle Pride initiative.

But he stressed that the situation wasn't as bad as it might appear from hearing the lists, saying these were the problem areas which spoilt the rest.

"In general West Craven is a fairly clean and tidy place and certainly among the best in Pendle," said Mr Whittle.

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