Britain is filthier despite council bill hike, says Keep Britain Tidy

While the average council tax bill has soared by 60% in seven years, Britain's streets are becoming filthier, according to a report published today.

The Keep Britain Tidy study has found that poorer councils who clean up at the wrong time have left 97% of streets strewn with rubbish and two-thirds of Britons are now living in grubby neighbourhoods.

The report found that while dog mess has decreased by 27%, takeaway trash has risen by 12%, trodden in chewing gum can be found on 94% of town centre streets, and litter, lighting and landscaping are now so bad on housing estates that around 70% are now in a "shoddy state".

Also, 26% of pavements were deemed dangerous and 63% of alleyways were badly maintained.

Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, Alan Woods, said: “While the blame for this shame must lie with people who are too lazy to use a bin, some councils are doing us no favours at all by concentrating on the wrong places.

“The sad fact is they don’t plan properly, listen to their resident’s concerns, or equip their street cleaners with the tools for the job.”

A major problem highlighted in the study was that despite fast food litter being mainly dropped after pub closing time – too many councils sent their sweepers out during the day when they are impeded by pedestrians, signs, café tables and parked cars. Around 70% of streets and gullies were not cleaned properly because of obstructions, the study found.

And out of 38 occasions when street cleaners were in action, they only managed to get the area tidy just five times, researchers said.

Across England, all regions scored an 'Unsatisfactory' mark for cleaning up rubbish – with the North East, London, North West, Yorkshire, East Midlands and the West Midlands having the worst problems.

However, previous problem areas such as flyposting, fly-tipping and graffiti were found to be under control, and parks and the seaside had also improved.

“If council chiefs just gave caring for our streets a little bit more attention by ensuring that walls got painted, fences got mended and litter got shifted, the difference would be huge,” Mr Woods added.

The government announced today its proposals to combat fly-tipping - a crime that costs £150 million a year. Under the proposals repeat offenders could be fined up to £50,000.

(gmcg)