RESIDENTS should be asked to join regular litter-picking sessions to keep verges and villages in the Yorkshire Dales clean it has been suggested, ahead of an expected wave of visitors to the national park as pandemic restrictions are eased.

A Richmondshire District Council meeting heard North Yorkshire County Council had offered to pay for extra waste bins as part of a road safety scheme at some of the busiest road-side picnic sites in Wensleydale, a move that would be welcomed by communities.

Concerns are mounting that the return of large volumes of visitors to the Dales and Richmondshire beauty spots following lockdown could see a repeat of the vast quantities of litter that was dumped by visitors last summer.

The district council’s leader Councillor Angie Dale said the council would need to examine if funding was available to collect waste from the sites, but communities such as Colburn ran regular residents’ litter picking sessions to keep their areas clean.

Councillors were told after the county council had stepped in to help alleviate the wave of antisocial behaviour at Richmond Falls last year by closing roads, they had unexpectedly sent the district council a large invoice for the work.

Councillor Stuart Parsons called for a Richmondshire-wide weekend of litter picking supported by the council to be revived.

He said: “The main problem in all the Upper Dales, the national park and across Richmondshire is people are just throwing rubbish out of their cars and they’re not going to stop to put it in a bin.”