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Towns told to clean up their act
A two-year study into the state of our towns streets has found councils need to do more to tackle the problem of litter.
All of the major towns in the north of the county were criticised for having unsatisfactory levels of litter and street cleaning by Government officers who inspected 353 local authorities across Britain.
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The national survey commissioned by Defra found that while Corby did well in areas like graffiti and flytipping clean-ups, more needs to be done to keep the streets rubbish-free.
Corby Council expressed disappointment with its litter scores, saying it had worked hard to reduce the amount of rubbish creating an eyesore in public places.
Corby Council's lead member for the environment David Harley said it would be working closely with its contractors with the aim of setting up neighbourhood teams to tackle litter problems.
He said: "I am disappointed with the litter score because we do feel that it's a cleaner environment and the street scene is better.
"There's always pressures on councils to keep up the appearance of the street scene and litter is an important part of how people view the town.
"We feel we have made inroads."
Kettering Council's portfolio holder for the environment Cedwien Brown said: "We have made every effort to pick up litter so we're disappointed with this result and I'm surprised we have been marked so low."
The 2007/08 results from the two-year survey showed all four district councils were rated as good when it comes to graffiti, flytipping and flyposting.
But Wellingborough Council joined its neighbours from Kettering and Corby in being branded unsatisfactory for litter, while East Northamptonshire was seen as satisfactory.
Inspections of streets, parks, town centres and other public places were carried out.The results will be handed to councils with a view to improvements being made in areas of weakness.
Councillors say funding and pressure of resources restrict them and people need to be educated to help the street-cleaning effort.
Leader of East Northamptonshire Council Andy Mercer said: "You can't fix problems overnight – it takes time. You have to pursue the right policies but it's not an overnight victory. It's taken us half a decade to get litter under control."
Wellingborough councillor Malcolm Waters said: "There is tremendous pressure on councils to do well in environmental areas. Every time people throw litter on the ground, it's money they are throwing away because it's local authority money which is used to clear it up."
In total 353 local authorities across England were surveyed between April 2007 and March 2008.
To see the report go to
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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