SUPERMARKET trollies, beer bottles, pigeon poo and cigarette butts - it can all be found in Cornhill, Wellington, these days.

Eve Bell, who runs Mannys Barber Shop, says the problem has been steadily getting worse. "It’s bad enough with the building work being done here, but we’ve also become a dumping ground,” she said. "It is not nice to have to come to see this in the mornings.

"We’ve had to put up with this for a long time. Businesses are already under pressure without this sort of mess to put up with.

“The pigeon poo is cleared up on a regular basis, but it doesn’t take long for it to come back. It’s not very nice for anyone walking down, particularly someone in a wheelchair.

“We just hope that when the building work ends it will be again a street to be proud of.”

Florist Sharon Davis, who runs Interiors and Flowers by Design, warned as long ago as June, 2019, of the dangers of objects falling from the dilapidated building next door to her business. Guttering came crashing down from the building and more recently a window fell out leaving it exposed and a breeding ground for pigeons.

“We put up with it because we have to,” she said. “Dave (road sweeper) is brilliant but he can’t be here all the time. The pigeons have been a problem for a very long time.”

Cornhill is one of the oldest streets in Wellington and once cherished as the town’s ‘jewel in the crown.’ Now it needs a real big effort to put it back where it was.