Bill Bryson backs South Norfolk Council bin lorry campaign

Best selling author and travel writer Bill Bryson has given his backing to a new high-profile South Norfolk Council publicity campaign to fight environmental crime and promote the area.

On Friday (July 6) he will be visiting the Council’s Ketteringham depot just off the A11 to see for himself its dramatic and eye-catching bin lorry liveries.

Across the normally empty sides of the familiar orange, four and six wheel refuse and recycling lorries, are pictures of everything from mattresses and settees dumped in green fields to big yellow sunflowers and bright red strawberry plants.

All are digitally printed onto high quality, PVC mesh panels, which then slide into place. These tour the district every week, visiting over 50,000 households collecting refuse and recycling.

The pictures also carry strong messages calling on people to “wake up … fly-tipping is a crime” and “compost at home…for a bloomin marvellous garden”.

But the top line message of the campaign is hammered home on almost every one: “Help keep South Norfolk a great place.”

Bill Bryson, who has travelled the world as a writer and broadcaster, before choosing to settle in beautiful South Norfolk, believes the campaign is worth his support and wanted to see all the lorry liveries for himself.

So South Norfolk Council invited him to Ketteringham depot.

On Monday July 9, he takes over the Presidency of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) from journalist, broadcaster and former newspaper editor, Sir Max Hastings.

Both South Norfolk Council and the CPRE have a number of concerns in common - including tackling litter and fly-tipping.

Although the district is largely safe, clean and green, the council has said it will not become complacent, but tackle incidents quickly and effectively.

As part of that campaign, it has just launched a new freephone number for residents to report environmental crime and anti-social behaviour.

South Norfolk Council Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor David Bills, and Deputy Leader, Councillor Martin Wilby will give Bill Bryson a guided tour of the depot and the bin lorry liveries

Cllr Bills said:

“South Norfolk is a great place, and we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. We need the community’s help to keep it that way.

“To support them in combating environmental crime, we announced this week our 0808 168 2999 freephone number for people to report incidents. I am sure this will help all of us in this task.”

Cllr Wilby, Deputy Leader, and a working farmer in South Norfolk, said:

"We put our environment first in everything we do. I get fed up with finding fly-tipping in my fields, gateways and ditches. By putting these adverts on our 15 bin lorries we are clearly getting the message across.

“The lorries are out and about South Norfolk five and sometimes six days of the week, 52 weeks of the year, so it makes sense to make use of their high level, visible impact.”

The freephone number will be used by people to report anti-social behaviour, abandoned vehicles, fly-tipping, littering, graffiti, vandalism or dog fouling.

0808 168 2999 will also be publicised in the community on the sides of street cleaning vehicles and in the council's community magazine The Link, which goes to over 50,000 homes twice a year.

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