I am appalled and disgusted everytime I walk off my estate and see the state of Clapton Common across the road and how certain members of the public abuse this green open space by dumping their litter and other objects into the pond and surrounding area.

There are exactly 30 litter bins on the common and 16 of these surround the pond alone, they are emptied on a regular basis by employees of the parks department/Hackney Council yet some individuals think its alright to ruin this space for other users by littering the whole place up with empty beer cans, plastic cider bottles, glass bottles and other litter.

There has been an increase of street drinkers in this area since Hackney Council introduced the exclusion orders on street drinking in the following areas, Hackney Town Hall, Mare Street E8, The Narroway, St Johns Church Yard, Clapton Square, and Clapton Pond and so the problem hasn't gone away, its just moved to the other end of the borough.

We now have the problem here on Clapton Common and on Amhurst Parade, Stamford Hill N16 yet none of our councillors seem to botherd about the increase of street drinking in the area, I wouldn't mind if people drank where they liked as long as they kept the place tidy, but they don't and they don't seem to have any consideration for anyone but themselves.

There have been broken bottles found on the common and a number of children have ended up with a nasty cuts including my own daughter, yet the council will do nothing and the parks employees who actually do a great job are the ones who take all the flack.

On speaking to a number of the parks employees last week I found out that the majority of the equipment used by them is either broken down or faulty with maybe a bolt needing replaced yet they have to go thrrough all the pen pushers to get anything done which can sometimes take up to 9 months to sort out because nobody in management takes a blind bit of notice.

I even had a chat with one of the councillors from the Springfield Ward outside my estate about the condition of Clapton Common and the fool said he didn't know where Clapton Common was, so I pointed across the road as he had his back to it at the time.

These people are elected to represent those residents in the ward they've been elected to and yet this one idiot didn't have a clue where the common was so due to his incompetence I asked him if he'd been living under a stone?
He wasn't amused and neither was I as I have had enough of taking my children out to play in a heap of litter left behind by people with no regard for anyone else.

Its not like I could take my children down to Springfield park playground, the place is in a bigger mess than the common with needles/spikes left behind by drug users and there are signs in that playground telling peole not to use any of the equipment there as it dangerous.

While out on Friday last I watched as one drinker sitting on a bench finished his bottle, and instead of dropping it in the bin not five feet from him, he threw the bottle up in the air and on landing it smashed on the tarmac surrounding the pond and sat there having a great laugh about it while parents had their children over there playing.

This forced me into doing something about it and so I returned to my estate and asked our estate cleaner if I could use his litter picker device and returned to the common to clear up all the broken bottles, cans and other rubbish that others to stupid to use a litter bin had left behind and while I was there a number of elderly folk told me I was wasting my time, its like everyone has given up or couldn't give a toss about that open green space and I stated thinking well at least by picking up the broken bottles I was making a difference to one child so they didn't fall over and cut themselves.

The result of all this is that I would like to set up a community based organisation with the name Guardians of Clapton Common to make certain that Clapton Common can be a place for everyone to enjoy, a place that is free from litter bugs and a pond where the wildlife in it can swim about without having bottles or cans thrown at them.

I appeal to anyone who has spare tools, brooms etc or anyone with any free time to get on board and show this council how real professionals who love and enjoy green open spaces can by working together change things for the better for each and everyone of us.

If anyone person or organisation would like to get involved in a massive clean up project they can give Patrick a call on 07973 536 682 or e,mail  notorious.heckler@btopenworld.com