A SWAMP in Monkton Park in Chippenham has been named in a dirty dozen of UK ‘grot spots’.

The Clean for the Queen campaign has chosen a dirty dozen places in the UK to highlight plans for the UK’s largest litter pick on March 4, 5 and 6 in time for The Queen’s 90th birthday.

The ‘black swamp’ was nominated by Elaine Massung from Rubbish Walks Chippenham and beat hundreds of entries from around the country.

Now Mrs Massung, a portfolio manager, is hopeful the site will now be professionally cleaned and kept tidy.

She said: “My understanding is it will get a professional cleaning but I am not sure what that involves.

“I nominated it because we cannot do it ourselves, it would be nice to get people involves and using it to build momentum going forward and prevent sites like this building in the future.

“I hope it will be a good springboard for a conversation about litter in the town and trying to prevent it. We want to get to the point where clean ups like this are not necessary.

Rubbish Walks Chippenham was started in November 2014 and often collects 15 to 30 black sacks of rubbish during a community clean up day.

“When I started it the idea was my husband and I wer cleaning up around the town and I wanted to encourage others to pick up litter, it’s not difficult to do,” she added.

“There are certain areas that are very bad, the town council does try a lot to keep the high street clean but other areas to get litter. Chippenham is not that unusual a lot of cities are bad.”

Clean for the Queen campaign director Adrian Evans is encouraging individuals, groups, schools, companies and sports teams to pick up litter in their local communities.

He said: “The dirty dozen all share a common theme, they are local eyesores. Rubbish has been dumped by people who can’t be bothered to dispose of it responsibly.

“To show that these places would be so much more beautiful if the litter was cleared, the Clean for The Queen team and friends are undertaking to clean up three of the grot spots.”

To register an interest in taking part visit www.cleanforthequeen.co.uk