Athlone slips towards bottom of national litter survey

Athlone's tidiness levels have been criticised in a national survey which ranked it as the third most littered town or city in the country.

The latest survey by the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) alliance was published today and it ranked Athlone as the most heavily littered town in the Midlands, placing it 38th out of the 40 locations surveyed.

The town lost its previous 'clean' status and is now classified as 'littered' by IBAL.

Its report on the town stated that some areas, such as Dublingate Street, the residential area of Willow Park, the Golden Island Shopping Centre and IDA Athlone Business and Technology Park performed well, but that other parts of the town were in 'very poor' condition and these 'drag(ged) down the overall ranking significantly.'

Tullamore was the most litter-free town in the Midlands, according to IBAL, and was ranked in 10th place nationally. Mullingar was ranked 23rd, while Portlaoise was, like Athlone, 'littered' and therefore ranked 36th.

* For more details, see this week's Westmeath Independent