COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

One resident has urged to council to take quicker action to encourage locals to take more pride in their area



A resident in Coventry has hit out at the council due to the time it has taken to remove a burnt out car from a local nature reserve.

Wyken Nature Reserve is a hotspot for dog-walkers and families but a lack of care shown to the area is being perpetuated by the council taking too long to tackle certain issues, says one resident.

Aden Biggs, who currently runs Coventry Dog Walkers, a Facebook group with over 1,000 members walking all across the city, recently spoke to CoventryLive about the issue.

He said: "The council do an amazing job at maintaining these areas, but full bins, litter and burnt out cars, bikes, etc, are becoming an increasing problem.

"Clearly this cannot be blamed on the council, however the poor response and collection times can.

"These blights are like bad apples, in that residents will find it hard to take pride in the city, leading to more littering and apathy."

Aden admits to trying his best to help while he is out, but says some problems are beyond the group's capabilities.

He said: "We pick up as much litter and dog poo as we can while walking, but the bigger stuff is a little too big to get in the bin.

"With all the money being spent on construction of various council projects, it's shocking that the services are so underfunded."

A Coventry City Council spokesman said: "We would encourage residents to make sure instances of abandoned cars are reported to us. We will work with our partners to ensure it is safely removed."

It is not the first time burnt out cars being left for weeks in public areas has been an issue in the city.

Earlier in the year two stolen vehicles were torched at the same time and left on a field behind Riley Square in Bell Green. The council said at the time the delay in dealing with removing was caused by flooding in the area.

A resident at the time said it is happening so often people become "desensitised" to it.

Burnt-out Land Rover at Coventry nature reserve will stay until police complete investigation



Coventry City Council has revealed the burnt-out Land Rover on the Wyken Slough will remain there until the police has finished its investigation. We reported earlier in the week how the vehicle was left abandoned after being set alight over last weekend.

The car has been at the Slough, close to Eburne Road, since Saturday night with no sign of it being removed - despite the site being a walk-through for residents taking children to school and being popular with dog walkers. But the council says the car will not be moved until the police investigation ends.

A council spokesperson said: "Officers are currently investigating the abandoned car. Once that investigation is complete the council will work with its partners to remove the car. We would encourage residents to make sure instances of abandoned cars are reported to us directly. You can do this on our website at https://www.coventry.gov.uk/street-scen ... d-vehicles.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "We were called by fire service colleagues to a Land Rover on fire in a suspected arson on land off Eburne Road, at around 10pm on Saturday (19 March). Anyone with information can contact us via Live Chat at west-midlands.police.uk, quoting crime investigation 20/280339/22."

One resident who lives nearby told CoventryLive: "It's horrible to see this kind of thing. I've got a five-year-old and we come here every weekend to feed the swans. I had to try to explain to him why there was a burnt-out car there.

"It's ridiculous but sadly it is becoming fairly common. There were two down the footpath last year that sat there for weeks and weeks. And then there was another one the other side of the Slough by the school.

"I just hope the council gets on with getting it cleared as soon as possible. It will become a climbing frame for kids out playing otherwise."