Wandsworth forms street clean-up team

Wandsworth Council has combined its litter collection squad and a group of highway agents to create a new, larger street clean-up team.

Thanks to streamlining and other efficiency measures, the council has been able to save £600,000, which it decided to put towards the new team. As it is larger than the two groups it replaces, the clean-up team will focus their energies on dealing with litter, flytipping, highways obstructions and broken pavements.

It will also check on local businesses to ensure that they are sticking to waste disposal regulations. This is because some try to avoid paying for proper commercial rubbish services (which are not covered by council rates) by dumping illegally or using someone else’s skip. Businesses are legally required to keep records of their waste disposal to prove they are following the regulations.

According to Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) statistics, Wandsworth has the cleanest streets in inner London, with 96 per cent already meeting national standards. The borough also ranks second best in London for incidents of fly-tipping in terms of incidents per head of population.

The latest figures show that local residents also feel positive about the area’s street hygiene, as 78 per cent say it is either “good” or “very good”, up from 64 per cent in 2011.

The borough is already tough on litterers, and has issued 800 on-the-spot fines over the past year.

Despite this, Wandsworth Council is keen to improve further. The council’s environment spokesman Jonathan Cook said: “We believe that bringing these two teams together under a single management structure will deliver really tangible benefits for local people.”

However, the clean-up team will not be limited to cleanliness concerns. Its members will also tackle uneven or broken paving stones, and prevent second-hand car dealers from monopolising the area’s parking.
Mr Cook claimed that the new organisation would be flexible, adding: “It will allow us to respond quicker and more effectively to the kind of environmental issues that local residents tell us they feel strongly about.”

Published 13th February, 2015

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