A community group from Redcar claim South Gare, once a hotspot for litter and fly-tipping, is now clean and urges residents to visit and see it for themselves.
The South Gare Litter Pickers, who began clearing waste nearly four and a half years ago, said they now visit the three-mile stretch of land in Redcar and Cleveland just once a week for a top-up, with most discarded tyres, furniture and even poo bags already removed.
Co-founder Matt Stilwell, 59, originally organised the group after lockdown, saying he began to feel ”very depressed” about the dire state of the once picturesque region.
”We had so many comments saying, we used to come down the Gare, but we stopped coming down because it was such a mess,” he said.
”If you go down there at 11 o’clock on a Saturday morning, it will be pretty much spotless.” 
The land belongs to the South Gare and Coatham Sands site of special scientific interest as an area of national geographical importance, and resides at the mouth of the River Tees. It is owned by UK-based port and logistics operators, PD Ports, and extends beyond Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council responsibility.
Alongside the Gare’s steep banks and overgrown vegetation, this has combined to create what locals believe is a space that attracts littering and fly tipping, blighting the area.
Carl Quartermain, a Labour councillor for the Coatham ward in Redcar, described the Gare as being in ”the lap of the gods” yet argued if the council were to begin investing here, it could have the opposite effect of what was intended, by encouraging more anti-social behaviour.
Volunteers from the community group have retrieved a wide range of items from along the coastline and have recently begun working with local residents near Paddy’s Hole, a historically significant fishing port at the northernmost point of the Gare.
”Every demographic of people down there, anglers, fisherman, bird watchers, they’re all supporting the work we do and they’re all changing their ways to make the it a better place to live and work,” said Stilwell.
Alan Schubert, a 63-year old retiree, volunteers with the South Gare Litter Pickers, helping connect the group with residents and companies across Teesside – including those at Paddy’s Hole – through a scheme known as corporate social responsibility. He has encouraged employees from a range of local businesses to join the group’s daily litter picks and describes it as transformational for mental health.
Quartermain supported this claim, characterising local litter picking groups as the most pure kind of community and to some extent, a form of self-therapy and education.
”Families can go take their kids and it’s an education outside the classroom. That simple act of putting something in the bin as a four-year old stays with you.
”The point is litter is always going to be there. It’s really about standards isn’t it? What kind of area do you want to live in?” he said.
For more information about the South Gare Litter Pickers and their work across the Teesside area, visit their Facebook page here.
All photographs courtesy of the South Gare Litter Pickers.
I’m Jey, a journalism student at Teesside University and the current head of news for the TUXtra website. Following a background in economics and geography, I hope to cover a wide-range of topical issues!
