PROTECTING the environment and loving where you live were the messages young people shared last week on a trip to Liverpool Town Hall.

School children from across North Liverpool were invited to share posters they had made urging the community to stop littering and look after the local area.

They presented their ideas to the Lord Mayor, Councillor Barbara Murray, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene, Councillor Laura Robertson-Collins, as well as Council staff and Liverpool Streetscene Services (LSSL).

The posters were part of a wider community project involving young people called Keep North Docks Tidy. Over the past few weeks, 7 schools have been out in the community litter picking and learning about the importance of preventing waste and litter.

The young people then drew on their knowledge to create educational posters that were entered into a competition. Of the 150 pupils that took part, 14 winning posters were chosen to be presented at Town Hall.

These posters will now be made into large signs to be displayed within the community for all to see.

Keep North Docks Tidy is a pilot project created by Liverpool City Council, LSSL, Onward Homes, Keep Britain Tidy, Veolia, and primary schools based in the North Docks neighbourhood.

North Docks is 1 of 13 neighbourhoods in Liverpool, including the Kirkdale East, Kirkdale West, County, Vauxhall, and Waterfront North wards.

It is home to a number of much-loved Liverpool landmarks, including Flower Streets, which won the Community Cohesion Award and People’s Choice Award at this year’s Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards.

The pilot will last for the remainder of the academic year and is centred around the key message of ‘the environment belongs to everyone’.

It follows the introduction of a new Recycling and Waste Strategy by the Council earlier this year. The strategy focuses on promoting positive waste behaviours such as increasing recycling rates and cracking down on littering and fly-tipping.

Councillor Laura Robertson-Collins, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene said:- “Ever since we’ve started this project, our young people have shown incredible passion and enthusiasm. Congratulations to everyone who took part in our competition and well done to our winners. It is clear from their hard work that protecting the environment and the local wildlife is a priority for them, as is keeping their community clean and safe for everyone - just as it is for us. We’re proud to be able to help share their fantastic messages with our residents. Our young people have important things to say about their future, and we need to listen.”

Joanne Danaher, Director of Housing and Home Ownership at Onward said:- “In Kirkdale, we are carrying out works that will make our customers’ homes warmer, more comfortable and easier to run. We are committed to maximising the impact that programmes like this have and ensuring that the benefits can be felt throughout the area. 1 of the ways that we are doing this is by joining with partners to make improvements to local green spaces in Kirkdale. It has been fantastic to see these young people make such a positive impact as part of the Keep North Docks Tidy initiative. Working with partners like Liverpool City Council is enabling us to do more to create a difference in our communities.”

Since last year, the Council has invested £950,000 on the creation of an internal enforcement team to tackle environmental crimes. They will be joined by an external team in the coming months, following a decision at June’s Cabinet Member meeting.

Over the past 2 years, enquiries around litter in the City have fallen by 25%.

Following the end of the Keep North Docks Tidy pilot, the Council will look to see how it can be extended out to the other neighbourhoods in the City.