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North West is worst area for litter | Courtesy of Keep Britain Tidy
North West worst for litter and dog mess, says study
11 Feb 2010, 11:19
Michael Hunt
The region continues to be the worst in Britain for the amount of litter found on its streets, parks and public spaces, according to the latest figures from Keep Britain Tidy.
Keep Britain Tidy is an environmental charity and the anti-litter campaign for England that produces the Local Environmental Quality Survey England, which is funded by the Government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Keep Britain Tidy carries out surveys to assess the cleanliness of local places from litter and dog mess to graffiti and fly-posting. The information is used by local councils to see how they are performing against the national average and said it is useful for Government and residents to see how clean or dirty our country is.
The survey shows that the cleanliness of areas overall is getting worse with the national benchmark slipping 2% with a 'national cleansing index' score falling from 69% in 2007/08 to 67% in 2008/2009.
Keep Britain Tidy said the higher the national cleansing index score the cleaner the area is considered to be.
Within the North West, the 'national cleansing index' score has fallen from 64% in 2007/08 to 60% in 2008/2009 and maintains its position at the foot of the regional table for a third consecutive year.
Although values declined for litter, leaf fall, staining and graffiti and staining at bus stops and litter on landscaping also deteriorated, Keep Britain Tidy said overall standards for litter remain unsatisfactory in the North West.
Surveyors visited 12,540 sites in 54 local council areas across the nine regions of England between April 2008 and March 2009.
Keep Britain Tidy said the South West continues to be the cleanest region.
Your Comments
6 Comments Add Comment
Couldn't agree more...I'm from Liverpool and my last few visits to the city have really disappointed me especially when the city is meant to be attracting more tourists and investment. An absolute disgrace.…
comment by Peter | 11/02/2010 11:46:25
I agree that most city centres are a disgrace, Manchester is getting worse every time I visit. Perhaps Liverpool and Manchester councils should visit Oxford or Canterbury!…
comment by John | 11/02/2010 15:57:30
perhaps its more a case of council's cutting back on cleaning the streets rather than other front line services because of the effect of the recession on their finances. i think littering is the thing councils should really be fining people for rather than petty parking fines.…
comment by andrew | 12/02/2010 08:25:00
Its not just north west towns and cities. Look at motorway junctions and main road corridors; the amount of rubbish on verges and in hedge rows is absolutely disgusting. Can people really be so lazy and/or ignorant in the 21st century? …
comment by Graham | 13/02/2010 12:30:59
People in the UK are miles more lazy/ignorant in the 21st century compared to those from, let’s say, 18th century. Those people wouldn't have had the sewage systems we have today or amount of bins around, they had no choice but to live in crap conditions but people today have a choice and can do far more to keep cities clean or to stop fly tipping. If they want to live in real awful conditions why don’t they bugger off to the cities of South America, the Far East or Athens in Greece, where they are living in conditions resembling those of 18th century..and let those of us, including myself, who want our cities to stay clean to keep respecting where we live! Andrew, you might have a point there.…
comment by Dave from Burnley | 14/02/2010 10:02:43
the big problem is dog poo, those that dont clean it up are well aware of the effect on kids in parks and on the street. the police and councils need to take action, why dont they do their jobs? report it and complain!!!…
comment by john | 17/03/2010 21:06:05
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