A parish priest said he was forced to clean up used needles discarded by drug users on a school route because the Welsh Government's street cleaning team did not show up to remove them. Father Dean Atkins, of St Mary's Church in Butetown, Cardiff, said he discovered four needles in the underpass between Lloyd George Avenue and Bute Street on October 24.
The location was just a short distance away from the church and St Mary the Virgin Church in Wales Primary School. Father Atkins explained that Cardiff Council would not remove the needles because they do not own the land. "The problem we've got in Butetown in reporting discarded needles is that lots of the land – lots of the public pavements and space – is not owned by the local authority and so they say it's not their responsibility to pick up needles from those places," said the 52-year-old.
"The Welsh Government owns certain parts of [the land] so they have separate contractors to clean those needles up." Father Atkins raised the problem with his local councillors and one of them contacted the contracted company to remove the drug paraphernalia. "I thought she was successful but when I returned the following day the needles were still there at 9.45pm," he said. He decided to pick the needles up himself that night, using kitchen roll and a bottle, as he was concerned children would pick them up the next day.
