No election posters, say local Tidy Towns volunteers
Ballymahon Tidy Towns are calling on election candidates in the Longford Westmeath constituency to refrain from putting posters up in the town, or within the 60kmh zones around the town.
Candidates are eagerly the official announcement of a general election, expected in the coming weeks, and are ready to go with posters and a campaign as soon as possible.
Ballymahon has had a poster-free policy for a number of elections, which has been widely respected by candidates in local and EU elections.
"They more or less had 100% compliance, so it made a huge difference to the town. In Ballymahon, it was sort of a breath of fresh air to have no posters there," said Derek Healy of Ballymahon Tidy Towns.
"The most important thing from our perspective is the environmental point of view. I know a lot of the guys may or may not reuse them afterwards, but a lot of them just don’t get reused, so you’ve got a huge amount of plastic waste there as well, you know. And obviously, it’s important to try to keep that to a minimum."
The committee are asking politicians not to put up anything, to reduce the number of zip ties and other poster-associated waste that can often be left on poles even after the posters are removed.
"We’ve obviously no control over this and don’t want to interfere with the democratic process either, you know. They’re perfectly entitled to do that," said Derek.
"But I think in this day and age, we do have a lot more avenues open to them from a social media perspective to get their message out there. They just don’t have to be posters."
OTHER TIDY TOWNS GROUPS WHO DON'T WANT POSTERS
The following message was sent from Milltownpass Tidy Towns to election candidates on behalf of the above listed Tidy Towns groups.
Dear election candidate,
Firstly let me take a moment to wish you the very best of luck in the upcoming general election as you kick off your campaign in earnest.
With posters going up across the county this weekend, on behalf of our own committee and many other Tidy Towns committees across county Westmeath, we are kindly requesting that candidates refrain from placing election posters within the 50km speed limit zones of a number of designated towns and villages in Westmeath. See attached for the full list of 'poster free' communities.
As volunteers and community organisations dedicated to the beauty, cleanliness, and environment of our respective communities, we believe that minimising visual clutter within these areas contributes greatly to our efforts.
By keeping these spaces free of posters, we aim to maintain a welcoming and tidy appearance that reflects well on both residents and visitors.
Additionally, election posters often have an environmental impact, as they contribute to waste and can be difficult to dispose of sustainably. Avoiding posters in these zones not only supports the visual appeal of our communities but also helps reduce potential waste and protect our natural environment.
We understand that visibility is an important part of your campaign, and we sincerely appreciate your cooperation in respecting this request.
If you are in touch with any fellow candidates, we would be grateful if you could pass along this request, as we may not have all candidates’ contact details.
If you have inadvertently already erected posters within the limits within any of the poster free zones, we would kindly ask that they be moved to outside the speed limit at your earliest convenience, and if you have already done so, we thank you sincerely.
Thank you very much for your understanding, and please feel free to contact us should you have any questions.
Aoife Lynskey, secretary, Milltownpass Tidy Towns