Published on Tuesday, Nov 9 2010 by
Every town and city suffers from the same problem; littered streets. We are all but too familiar with the Sunday morning appearance of fast food wrappers, broken beer bottles, crushed cider cans and countless cigarette ends. All of these should logically be put into rubbish bins that are located across the UK but it’s something that, in particular, the Saturday night party goers forget to do.
Recent statistics revealed that the number of pubs, clubs and supermarkets across England who hold 24 hour alcohol licences has increased to a record level. Figures indicate that all areas except the east of England have seen a rise in the number of 24 hour licences being held.
Bournemouth in particular is said to cost the council £3 million in street cleaning costs a year. Bournemouth is in the top 10 local authorities with high numbers of premises holding 24 hour alcohol licences. Each Saturday night the party spot hosts around 20,000 party goers and the extremity of this figure can be seen with the aftermath of rubbish that is left on a Sunday.
There is talk of councils being allowed to charge more for late night licences in a bid to cut down on littering and the implementation of street cleaning services. The student populated town also suffers from numerous pieces of gum stuck to the pavements. Gum removal projects have occurred in the past but it still seems to be a reoccurring problem. Cities such as Bristol have suffered from a similar situation after figures showed £38,000 a year was spent removing chewing gum.
Local businesses have opposed the suggestion of increased prices for late night licences as many feel they already pay expensive business rates. Whether this will be implemented by the Home Secretary is not yet known. In regard to street crime, famous Belgian street artist ROA painted a 12 foot rabbit on the side of a recording studio last year. Although the owner granted permission for the painting, the Hackney council has recently warned the building’s owner that he has to remove the graffiti within two weeks. Whether this is scrubbing off the painting or covering the rabbit with anti graffiti paint or anti graffiti coatings, if the owner does not oblige then the council will remove the graffiti after the two weeks and send the owner the bill.
It seems that dirty streets are a problem that is suffered all over the UK and costs local councils millions of pounds each year to clean. With Boris Johnson’s recent gum gala it shall be interesting to see if any new litter schemes will be thought up in the coming months.
Community Clean offer street cleaning services across the South of the UK; we work in both the public and private sectors combating a number of issues from high access challenges to regeneration projects.
