IS it a bird, or is it a Liverpool Direct employee who has been put on the naughty step?
A giant scabby pigeon sits forlornly in Williamson Square with a sign around its neck saying “Please Do Not Feed Me”.
His only friend is Pete Price.
A very British coo:
Pete Price and the pigeonHe has been put there by the council-run Business Improvement District. It is having a week-long public awareness campaign all about chewie, ciggies litter, begging and how much it costs to deal with it all as well as "rats with wings".
For example, they say: “It takes Liverpool’s street cleansing team 80+ staff hours per day to clean droppings from streets and buildings, at a cost of £100,000 + a year.”
Some in lofty positions might say that's chickenfeed. Nevertheless Europe’s pigeon population is estimated to be 28 million and 100,000 pairs of breeding urban gulls are on rooftops around town and cities across the UK. That's a lot of steak bakes.
City Central BID surveyed the public and found 8 out of 10 people consider the city centre as clean – and are aiming for 10 out of 10 in the 2014 survey.
Steve MunbyThe organisation, which represents 630 businesses in the city centre has been using each day of the week to highlight a particular topic and issue polls on a whole range of topics such as the proposed 5p charge on shopping bags to £80 fines for dropping gum.
The campaign is part of City Central BID’s role as a Love Where You Live Ambassador with Keep Britain Tidy with support from Liverpool City Council, the city’s cleansing contractors Amey and Merseyside Police.
Williamson Square is to feature new signage asking people not to feed pigeons.
Councillor Steve Munby said: “We all have a part to play in keeping Liverpool clean and tidy.”
