Rubbishing Wales' future prosperity

Mar 18 2006 Sion Barry, Western Mail

SIR TERRY Matthews says Wales' litter problem is getting worse and described it as a "plague" that is damaging its economy.

And the Newport-born telecommunications billionaire blamed a lack of civic pride for allowing spiralling levels of illegally disposed-of garbage to blight the country's cities, towns and rural areas.

Sir Terry, who lives in Canada but regularly returns to Wales, said litter levels have worsened in the two years since he first raised his concerns over the issue with the Western Mail.

And he warned that unless people started taking personal res-ponsibility for disposing of litter legally, it would only deter more investors and tourists from coming to Wales.

He said the issue was a crucial one, particularly with Wales hosting the 2010 Ryder Cup.

"In the lanes around the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport the levels of garbage just dumped in hedges, or just left on the roadside, are just appalling.

"I have to spend a fortune getting the resort's ground staff to go out and clean up the garbage. It is simply horrendous and appalling. Each week they have to deal with vast quantities of garbage it is unbelievable with things like settees, cookers and fridges being dumped.

"People staying at the resort, some of whom are overseas executives thinking of investing in Wales, often come up to me to complain about the garbage. I feel so embarrassed, but they are right it, it is totally unacceptable. It's a plague."

He agreed that local authorities were trying to tackle the problem, but it comes down to people having more respect for the environment.

"It really is a case of civic pride and education. People have to realise that tourists don't have to come to Wales and companies don't have to invest here," he said.

"Earlier this week I visited Abertillery and the road into the town was knee-deep in garbage. What prospective employer is going to invest if they are faced with such a problem? The answer is that it will only turn them off.

"We need better employment in Wales, but who is going to want to employ local people who are res-ponsible for creating this garbage in the first place? If you have garbage everywhere you are going to have to take on garbage employees."

Sir Terry said that in his experience Wales and the UK generally had a bigger litter problem than its competitors.

"I travel all over the world so I have a perspective on garbage and what I can tell you is that in Wales it is bad as it gets.

"If you go to say a small town in the south of France there isn't a problem. In Ottawa [where he lives] garbage levels are virtually zero. Why is it that other countries can keep their environments clean and Wales is not able to do it?

"The problem is that most people in Wales are becoming oblivious to growing garbage levels, which really worries me."

Sir Terry said that people had to make a stand on the issue.

"If I see rubbish on the road I will walk across and pick it. The fact that with the threat of terrorism there are now fewer bins is no excuse, people need to take responsibility for disposing of their garbage."

Celtic Manor Resort board member Simon Gibson said the hotel was worried that the issue could threaten to turn Wales's hosting of the Ryder Cup into a PR disaster for the whole country.

He added, "There is a great deal of work going on for the Ryder Cup, but it is the little things like rubbish which could kill us. We are not sure what we can do.

"This is not a rant, but a genuine concern that we are not going to be ready in beautifying the environment for what will be the world's third biggest sporting event.

"We are really concerned that visitors, and the 800 million television viewers around the world, will take away a negative impression of Wales because of the garbage problem."

Mr Gibson, who also runs Sir Terry's venture capital fund Wesley Clover, said a technology company in its portfolio decided not to invest in Blaenau Gwent because of litter levels.

"We had identified a site in a new factory built by the WDA, which was a first-class facility," he said.

"However, when we took the institutional investors and executives in the company to view it, they had already made up their minds on the drive up not to invest because of the levels of rubbish and general filth everywhere."