An independent assessment from Keep Britain Tidy has shown that significant improvements have been made to the borough’s street cleanliness, despite challenging circumstances.
As part of our efforts to continue to improve our borough’s streets, in June 2020 the street cleansing service changed the way it operates, moving to an area-based approach to keeping the borough clean.
Since then, three independent surveys by Keep Britain Tidy have shown that litter, waste and flyposting levels in the borough have declined while residential roads, town centres and shopping areas have all benefitted from the new way of working.
Council data and feedback also shows that complaints have reduced, and more positive comments and compliments have been received over the last 12 months.
Despite a really challenging year, we’re so proud of the excellent work our frontline staff have done over the last 13 months. Their ongoing work to make our streets cleaner, particularly at littering hotspots has achieved excellent results.
Although the Council has faced the toughest year in living memory due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff have worked tirelessly to clear litter and tackle other issues such as graffiti to make sure residents can enjoy a clean and safe borough.
Street cleaning improvements have been supported through the investment in new environmentally-friendly equipment, such as more electric and mechanical sweepers as well as new electric blowers, to help clear litter and waste. The council also introduced new extended recycling opportunities to make it is easier for residents to recycle more at home.
We’ve got a really strong sense of civic pride in our borough and so many local organisations, community champions and residents have been going above and beyond to help keep our borough at its best.
Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Public Realm said: “Despite a really challenging year, we’re so proud of the excellent work our frontline staff have done over the last 13 months. We can only thank them for their commitment during this difficult time. Their ongoing work to make our streets cleaner, particularly at littering hotspots has achieved excellent results.
“And it’s not just the Council – we’ve got a really strong sense of civic pride in our borough and so many local organisations, community champions and residents have been going above and beyond to help keep our borough at its best. The Roding Rubbish litter picking group have collected over 2,000 bags of rubbish from across the borough with 40 volunteers which is an incredible contribution. We also have so many other community and faith groups including the Darul Ummah (House of the Community) who are stepping forward to help keep our neighbourhoods tidy.
“We all need to do our bit for a Cleaner Barking and Dagenham and residents can help us to keep our borough clean and safe. It can be as simple as making sure you put your litter in a bin or take it home with you. And you can quickly report litter, fly-tipping, graffiti or other issues to us – if it’s on our land, we’ll make sure they’re cleared away and if it’s not, speak to the landowner to take action. You can even do your bit by carrying out a quick litter pick in your street.
“Our local businesses can also get involved and do their bit for a cleaner borough wherever possible to help us to continue to improve on this excellent feedback from Keep Britain Tidy.
“We all want to “love where we live” and we know that we can count on our residents and local organisations to help us as we continue our work on this. We look forward to seeing everyone enjoy our borough at its best this summer as a result.”
Residents can report street cleansing issues at: www.lbbd.gov.uk/report-it
For more information on the borough’s extended recycling scheme, please visit: https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/what-goes-in-your-bins