BCP Council working to clear rubbish uncovered by goats

The owner of the goat herd, Mark Jackson, said that he and the council were “on the case” to ensure that the cliffs are cleared of litter.

“What’s happened over the years is the public have thrown litter in over the fence line, and the plants have grown over a lot of it,” Mark said.

“Now the goats are in there, they’ve eaten away the vegetation, which they are in there to do, and they have exposed it.

“We do litter picks in a lot of the enclosures. There are some areas that we can’t do.

“Ninety-five per cent of it is stuff that’s been there for the last five or 10 years. And now the goats have eaten back the vegetation, it’s now visible.”

In a litter pick on January 15, more than a dozen bags of litter were collected from the cliffs. Mr Jackson said council teams were out on Monday carrying out litter picks in some of the areas where others cannot reach.

He also said he has been working with the council to place more bins along the clifftop, to try and combat members of the public throwing litter over the fences onto the cliffside.

They also work with local groups, like the scouts and the Dorset Devils, who Mr Jackson says do a “fantastic job” to litter pick in the area. He is working with councillors to ensure that they are tackling the problem.

Goats were first bought into the area in 2009, to manage the vegetation on the cliffside.

In December, it was announced that the goat herd was set to double in numbers, from around 50 goats to 100, as a part of a council-backed breeding programme.

A BCP Council spokesperson said: “BCP Council is determined to tackle littering across our beautiful area.

“We are aware of litter within some of the goat areas on the cliff face and our staff are undertaking litter picking where it is safe to do so. On the steeper areas of the cliff, we will be using a specialist contractor to litter pick.”