The Labour candidate for the upcoming Stirling Council East Ward by-election formally launched his election campaign by getting his hands dirty and cleaning up in the area.

Armed with litter-pickers and bin bags, candidate Chris Kane (39) took his supporters out onto the streets near St Ninian’s Mayfield Centre to get rid of some rubbish on his streets.

The team collected 14 bags of rubbish from around the shopping precinct, the bushes along the paths of the Yellow Hill and the streets and car parks surrounding Mayfield Library and Health Centre before separating the recyclables from the landfill.

Chris told the News: “These are my streets and this is my community and I wanted to demonstrate that we can either talk about changes, or we can get on and deliver them.

“Stirling Council are already working hard to deal with litter, but the more help there is, the more we can achieve. A litter pick is simple to organise, but the impact it can have on the way we feel about our streets is huge.

“If we want vibrant communities, small gestures are just as important as big ideas. I can deliver £250,000 infrastructure projects such as the Braehead Community Garden and I can get my hands dirty picking litter from the kerbside.

“I believe we make our communities work best when we work together and I hope that people across Stirling East agree and will vote for me on 1 October.” Rebecca Bell was one of the supporters who accepted Chris’ invitation to take part in the litter pick event.

She said: “It was great to be doing something practical and it was very rewarding to literally see the difference we can make in communities as we cleaned up, one crisp bag at a time.

“You can see Chris Kane is proud of his community and I’m proud that together we made a small, positive difference in Stirling East to mark the official launch of Chris’ by-election campaign.”