A LITTER picking group has called on a council to make bins more readily available throughout the year and not just during summer months.

The issue was initially brought up by the Beach Hut Owners Association of Walton who noticed the blue bins were removed from the seafront areas earlier this month.

Fixed black bins near the pier gates remained in operation and Walton Against Lazy Littering (WALLYs) also bemoaned the small number of bins available.

Rachel Barford, co-ordinator of WALLYs, said: “During the summer months Tendring Council provides extra bins but they’ve removed them in the middle of September.

“In Walton we get a lot of visitors including students - 12 coaches came into the beach on Thursday because they were studying erosion among other things.

“However, all the bins were removed, when we did our litter picking in the summer there were a lot of tourists enjoying the beach which is absolutely fine.

“We are calling for more bins all year round to ensure people don’t have an excuse to litter.”

Blue bins have been returned to the seafront but at a reduced number compared to the summer months.

A Tendring District Council spokesman said it appreciated the work of community litter pickers.

He said: “Groups such as WALLYs do fantastic work keeping our communities clean, and we support them where we can such as by collecting what they pick up.

“It would be not financially viable to run extra bins during the winter months, though we do regularly review bin locations to ensure they are effective.

“However, our contractors did mistakenly remove some permanent bins when removing seasonal ones; this error has now been fixed meaning there is some extra provision.

“With this in mind our message remains the same – if a bin is full, please keep hold of your rubbish until you can dispose of it properly, to keep our communities nice for everybody.”

For more information Tendring Council’s policy regarding missing seafront bins visit bit.ly/3Cb5vUG.