Sheffield Council praised for clean streets

In the letter, addressed to John Mothersole, chief executive of the council, they said: “Congratulations on your success in maintaining a consistently high standard of roadside cleanliness.”

It followed a survey by Keep Britain Tidy on behalf of DEFRA.

Councillor Mark Jones, cabinet member for environment and streetscene, said it was a surprise.

“It is really encouraging that Sheffield is being recognised for trying to deliver a good standard of cleanliness when it comes to roadside litter.

“There’s always more that can be done to combat litter and we all have a responsibility for disposing of it properly. But, this recognition from government shows that most Sheffielders are rightly proud of where they live. It also shows that we are better than other cities and it encourages us at the council to try even harder to keep Sheffield moving in the right direction; delivering the best services we can for those who live and work in our city.”

He said it had taken a lot of effort to reach the standard and was keen to see what they could do to be even better.

Hproe added: “It’s taken a lot of hard work. We do have it written into the contract with Amey that if it gets to a certain amount of litter they must go out and clean it even if it’s not in the cycle yet. People can make that happen by ringing up Amey and saying ‘come and get my street cleaned’.

“We’re chasing our tails at times, sometimes I’ll have residents complaining about litter and they’ll say ‘you’re doing your job and cleaning the litter but the day after it’s a mess again’ and that’s where it gets frustrating. We can keep cleaning it all we want but if we’re not making the difference.

“I think most people are really good and won’t think to throw things on the floor, it’s only one or two but it only takes one or two for it to start accumulating and looking really bad so that’s the bit we need to get.”

Darren Butt, account director at Amey Streets Ahead, said they were working on changing attitudes and had visited 264 schools covering more than 57,000 pupils to promote anti littering.

He said: “This recognition from DEFRA is testament to the hard work that our teams carry out daily to help keep the city’s roads clean and litter-free.

“We ask that everyone plays their part by taking their litter home with them. Litter is a blight on our environment, and we all have a responsibility to dispose of it responsibly.”

In the letter, they asked the council a number of questions about how they kept the streets clean in order to help other authorities do the same.