Anger as litter strewn along wooded section of road

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

For a minority of people roadside verges appear to have large litter bin signs over them, and one example is a road linking two Swansea suburbs.

There are stunning hill-top views along Hendrefoilan Road and houses to match as it heads from Sketty towards a smart housing estate in Killay.

But where it narrows through a wooded area and the pavement ends empty bottles, cans and vapes are impossible to miss. There’s a battered umbrella, a green food waste caddy, and bags with rubbish in them.

Nestled among the undergrowth a couple of metres from the verge is more discarded detritus.

It costs councils time and money to clear up fly-tipped rubbish, and councillors in the area are annoyed with the litter louts.

“It’s an ongoing problem and really unacceptable that people choose to chuck litter from their windows or dump larger items,” said Dunvant and Killay councillor Louise Gibbard. “It’s not always easy for the teams to tackle quickly as it’s a narrow lane with no pavement so often traffic management is required for the crew to operate safely.”

Cllrs Mary Jones and Jeff Jones, who also represent Dunvant and Killay, said it was a regular problem and that they would ask the council to clear it. They said: “It is very disappointing to see when we all try to keep this area clean and tidy.” They added that most of the affected stretch of road was in the neighbouring Sketty ward.

The council has set up a special roads team to tackle rubbish flung out of cars in areas without pavements which make it hard for normal litter-picking staff to access.

The long roads cleansing team, as it’s known, fished out around half of tonne of roadside rubbish between Glais and Birchgrove in one operation, which shocked Cllr Cyril Anderson, cabinet member for community.

“The council is doing its best to keep Swansea clean and litter-free but we need the public to play their part and look after their local environment,” he said.

The Labour-run council has also established so-called cleansing ward operative teams which go from area to area picking litter, trimming overgrowth, tidying up lanes and clearing pavements.

Cabinet is proposing to invest an extra £474,000 in the cleansing ward operative teams in 2026-27, along with a £250,000 uplift in the fly-tipping service including enforcement.

The charity Keep Wales Tidy has said roadside litter harms wildlife and the wider environment and can spoil beautiful views for people.

Cllr Mary Jones told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she had received an email from the council saying its long roads cleansing team would be heading up to Hendrefoilan Road as soon as possible.