A special clean up initiative in Burngreave has been given the thumbs up after helping to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in the amount of litter in the area.
Under a unique agreement between Burngreave New Deal for Communities (BNDfC) and Sheffield City Council to improve services in Burngreave, a number of projects were set up to enhance the physical appearance and general environment in Burngreave.
These included the Environmental Maintenance Project (EMP), an additional maintenance and street cleaning team for Burngreave to keep the streets and open spaces clean, and the neighbourhood wardens, a team of residents who patrol the area taking practical action to make Burngreave a better place to live.
Nick Hetherington, Head of Street Scene at Sheffield City Council, said: "Local people had voiced their concerns about the amount of litter and fly tipping in the area so we are delighted with the interventions we have made so far. A reduction in litter by half is a great achievement but we do recognise there is more work to be done.
“We are now starting an education and information campaign to raise awareness amongst people in the community about the need for us all to play our part in keeping the area tidy – if people still insist on making a mess in our area it will still be a problem. We will be working with local schools and starting a leaflet and poster campaign to encourage the public to think twice about dropping litter or dumping rubbish.”
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer (CGS) monitoring group was created to regularly walk around the area to assess the impact of these projects and to look for particular ‘hot-spots’ that can be reported back to be cleaned up.
Tony Hall, Chair of the CSG monitoring group as part of his role as a BNDfC partnership board member, says they are now taking a hard line approach to those who do leave behind a mess. He said: “We want to get a message out to people both within Burngreave and also city-wide that dumping rubbish will not be tolerated and we will be clamping down hard on offenders. Sheffield City Council will prosecute anyone found dumping rubbish or dropping litter in Burngreave with a £50 fixed penalty fine.”
Anyone in the Burngreave area who wants more information on the initiative or wants to report a hot-spot area can contact the BNDfC Neighbourhood Community Wardens on 272 5057 or phone the Street Force call centre on 273 4567.