By Bridget Brady
A CRANBOURNE couple disgusted about rubbish that was dumped near their home wants the council to clean up its act after taking eight days to remove it.
Alan and Margaret Millerick said bags of rubbish were dumped at Minihan’s Reserve in Cranbourne on 13 April. They said they called City of Casey council to remove the mess, which it did on Monday, 20 April.
But the council’s manager of parks and reserves, Trevor Griffin, said the council received a report of bags of rubbish on 14 April and, because of the weekend, council had removed it within four working days.
Mrs Millerick, 74, said her main worry was the safety threat because she was unsure what was in the rubbish. “It looked to be household waste but you don’t know what’s in it,” she said.
“I think they (the council) should have done something about it sooner. Children especially would come across it and just look through it. There could have been syringes and people could have got infections.”
Mrs Millerick said the council should have a policy in place to remove rubbish or other unsightly mess within a few days of residents reporting it.
“And why would anyone want to dump rubbish in a park anyway.”
Mr Millerick, 72, said he had never seen a mess at Minihan’s Reserve before, so it was disappointing it was not cleared immediately.
“I called the council the day I saw it, then a second time a few days later when nothing happened. You would think the council would want to take a bit of pride,” Mr Millerick said. “You can’t have people throwing rubbish around in the park.”