Town streets are some of the cleanest in the region

Sarah Hickinbotham

12 May 2008

STREETS in Redditch have been named among the cleanest in the West Midlands following a Government report.
The Audit Commission assessed the roads and walkways of 34 councils in the region placing Redditch in 12th with just 8.3 per cent of streets deemed as dirty.
But neighbouring Bromsgrove had more than double the rubbish-ridden streets, with 16.9 per cent having a low level of cleanliness, placing the town in 26th place.
Guy Revans, head of environmental services at the council, said: “That we’ve featured so highly in the table is excellent news. Protecting and improving the environment is a borough council priority, and keeping the streets clean is an important step towards achieving this.
“It may well be that the latest rankings will place us even higher in the table as these are figures for 2006/07, and we know that we’ve improved on our percentage since then.
"It’s certainly something we take very seriously and will continue to do so and we also rely on residents to keep the streets tidy - they too should take credit in Redditch’s position in the table, this includes our 76 voluntary litter wardens.”
Of the councils reviewed in the West Midlands, Oswestry came out on top with 98.2 per cent of its paths and highways clean and nearby Stratford-upon-Avon took second place with 97.9 per cent cleanliness.
However, Birmingham was the dirtiest city in the region with 26.1 per cent of its streets noted as unclean, closely followed by Coventry with 20.2 per cent and Nuneaton and Bedworth with 20 per cent.
Joe Morgan, GMB regional secretary - the union which broke the news - said: "Overall, we have seen a 14 per cent improvement in the cleanliness of streets across England in the last year.
"This is good news for our environment and it is testament to local councils and their street cleaners.
"But there are still too many councils who are not putting enough effort and resources into keeping their streets clean - and that has got to change."

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