Longford is fifth tidiest town in the country

Longford could be among the top two cleanest towns in the country if “greater vigilance” from the local public is made to tackling indiscriminate littering.

That was the overarching message from Longford Tidy Towns chairman John Farrell after the county town was named as being among the top five cleanest towns nationwide.

He said the fifth placed result, while commendable, illustrated just what the town could achieve with greater community input.

“When you are up near the top, you are doing well to hold your own,” he said, when reflecting on its fifth placed finish.

“Where did we fail? We failed on the Market Square and Ballymahon Street. We failed in areas where there is a high level of footfall and nine times of out ten because of food waste from takeaways, sweet wrappers, bottles and cans.

“If you look at the report, it’s what lets us down time and again and we need greater vigilance. If we do get that, we could be in the top two (cleanest towns).”

An accompanying report compiled by leading environmental group An Taisce gave top marks to the town’s main approach roads, the residential areas of College Park, Blind Man’s Walk and what it termed as the “wonderful park environment” at Longford’s Mall complex.

Mr Farrell, who was recently honoured at the annual Longford County Council cathaoirleach awards, acknowledged the efforts of the local authority, a number of Ukrainian refugees and other local volunteers who helped bring about Monday’s largely positive announcement.

In doing so, he issued a rallying call to the wider public to ensure Longford’s environmental well being remains on an upward trajectory.

“We don’t have a lot of volunteers,” he said.

“In fact, we don’t have half as many as we should have. We have different groups, like our committee and volunteers that come out on a Saturday morning as well as a Tús (community employment scheme) group that come out a few times a week and our own Ukrainian refugees.

“All we are missing now is for Longford people to come out in larger numbers.”

Longford claims top five spot in IBAL litter survey