Triumphant Southend-on-Sea Borough Council clinched two prestigious honours at this year’s Clean Britain Awards ceremony in Birmingham. In these highly regarded annual awards, the Council achieved the highest rating of five stars for cleansing standards, and also won third prize overall, out of 38 finalists.These successes were announced at an Oscar-style awards ceremony at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. It was a hard-fought contest where judges made anonymous inspection visits to each place, and participants had to fulfil 13 stringent criteria. These included general litter, chewing gum and smoking-related litter, fly-tipping, graffiti and the provision and condition of litter bins. The judges were particularly impressed with Southend’s dual litter and recycling bins throughout thetown. They also gave special recognition to the fact that during their inspection they found hardly any graffiti in evidence. Southend-on-Sea Borough Council’s Executive Councillor for Public Protection and Waste, Councillor Tony Cox said: “We were thrilled to receive these terrific accolades. Our community deserves well maintained and attractive public places. Council’s clean sweep at the street scene ‘Oscars’! “These awards recognise the efforts made by the Council, its cleaning contractors, Cory Environmental, its graffiti removal contractors Community Clean, and other organisations, to keep our local areas clean and welcoming. “Congratulations to all who have helped us gain this magnificent achievement.” Originally published in the Southend Echo - 22/03/11. View link to the 'Yellow Advertiser' article. 
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