Councils improving clean streets performance

Published by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, it found that the standard of England's streets has increased by four per cent since last year, with 44 per cent of areas now deemed good or satisfactory.

Nearly 12,000 sites, divided into 12 land types ranging from council estates to industrial areas, were measured as part of the study.

It found that high-density deprived neighbourhoods and local shopping precincts were among the dirtiest locations, while low-density private housing and parks and picnic areas were the cleanest spaces surveyed.

Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Alan Woods said: "For the first time in years, a national survey has shown improvements in the state of England and it seems we're really getting to grips with things like fly-posting, graffiti and fly-tipping."

He put the improvement down to the introduction of a new performance indicator for councils – the BV199 - which asks local authorities to look at their land through the eyes of a resident.

But the study also shows that levels of certain types of litter are growing – with late night litter on the increase in particular.

Areas found with snack packaging rose by 18 per cent compared with 2001-02 figures, while levels of dumped drinks cans and bottles increased by 34 per cent.

The survey found that London is the dirtiest place to live in England, scoring only 43 points out of a possible 100. The East of England region was the cleanest (72), nine points ahead of its nearest rival, the South East (63).

Councillor Keith Ross, deputy chair of the Local Government Association's environment board, said: "The Government must act now to reverse the decline in funding for environmental services."

Local Environmental Quality Survey of England is available by clicking here.

This article was first published on PlanningResource

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