The streets of the district are getting cleaner – and now Babergh has scooped 4 Stars in a national award scheme to prove it!
Judges from the 2009 Clean Britain Awards visited the district and spent half a day touring Babergh and looked at a variety of criteria including litter, waste bin management, chewing gum and cigarette butt litter.
Babergh has been rolling out many projects across the district in a bid to discourage litter bugs – including new litter bins with ashtrays, working with businesses to reduce cigarette butt litter and stepped up enforcement patrols with officers handing out fines for litter dropping.
The council’s own performance indicators, where streets in the district are surveyed on their cleanliness, have also seen an improvement.
Hadleigh and Sudbury town centres have seen an 81 per cent improvement in overall cleanliness since the last survey.
Daniel Whymark, Babergh’s Local Environmental Quality Officer, said: “Babergh is delighted to have gained national recognition for the district because of its cleanliness.
“The indiscriminate dropping of litter, including cigarette butts and chewing gum, is a dirty habit and one which Babergh is trying its best to rid the district of.
“Not only is it unsightly, anti-social but it costs the Council taxpayer money to clear up. Although pleased with the result, Babergh isn’t going to rest on its laurels - we’re now gearing up to go one better and scoop the full five stars in 2010!”
Babergh also encourages members of the public to have pride in where they live and help with litter problems by reporting the problem, or if they wish, organising their own community litter pick.
Anyone wanting to get involved with community litter picking can call Babergh to organise the loan of litter pickers and hi-visibility waistcoats. For more information, or to report a litter problem, call 01473 826622. ENDS
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