County Councillors for Mitchel Troy and Trellech, Richard John and Jayne McKenna, have led a community litterpick with staff from the EuroGarages services near Raglan and prisoners on day release from Prescoed open prison.

The early morning litterpick along the old Monmouth Road between Frank Sutton’s and Dingestow was supported by officers from Monmouthshire County Council.

Prisoners from Prescoed open prison attended as part of a community rehabilitation programme for those deemed low risk of absconding.

The stretch of road is a notorious litter blackspot due to its proximity to the EuroGarages services. The team collected a dozen bags of rubbish, which included fast food packaging, fizzy drink containers and alcoholic drinks.

Cllr Jayne McKenna said, “It’s so depressing that litter plagues our verges, hedgerows and roadsides in some of the most scenic parts of Monmouthshire.

“This was a great opportunity to clear the area of a lot of litter in a short space of time and help ensure our corner of Monmouthshire looks its best,

“We’re grateful to EuroGarages staff as well as the prisoners from Prescoed who had the opportunity to give something back to society as part of their rehabilitation.”

Cllr Richard John said, “We’ve made our criticisms of EuroGarages in the past, that we felt they weren’t doing enough to help tackle the contribution their station makes to the litter problem, but we were really grateful for their support.

“Once again it was frustrating to see the volume of litter that a minority of low life motorists have thrown from their vehicles, including, disturbingly, a number of empty alcoholic drinks bottles.

“It’s time the council got far tougher on litter louts and expanded the use of covert cameras to catch more criminals in the act and send a clear message that it won’t be tolerated.”