Street Cleaning
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Leaf Fall Clearance There are a number of areas across Charnwood which are affected by heavy leaf fall in the autumn. These areas receive extra attention at this time of year to ensure that they are regularly swept of leaves, so avoiding slippery and potentially dangerous surfaces for pedestrians. A list of the roads containing leaf fall hotspots can be seen in the 'Related Documents' section at the bottom of this page. The leaves collected are composted at a nearby farm |
The Borough Council has a legal duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, to act as the Litter Authority for Charnwood. This responsibility includes street cleaning, litter collection, the removal of detritus, fly-posting, graffiti and fly-tipping on public land which is maintained by the Council.
The Council collects litter and refuse (including fly-tipping) via a Contract, which was let to Serco in August 2009, and will run until 31st March 2017.
This Contract is based on the requirements set out in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse 2006, including types of land, zoning, response times and responsibilities of authorities to maintain cleanliness standards.
The street cleaning element of the contract is output based, rather than the frequency based contract which operated prior to 1st August 2009. This means that areas under Charnwood Borough Council's responsibility are now cleaned to meet and maintain a required standard, rather than areas being cleaned to a set frequency.
Accurate and systematic monitoring of street cleanliness is taking place to enable Charnwood Borough Council to identify when and where litter problems are likely to occur, and put procedures in place to maintain acceptable standards.
Grades of Cleanliness
The graded standards shown below are used to monitor the cleanliness of areas.
For litter and refuse:
| Grade | Definition |
| A | No litter or refuse |
| B | Predominantly free of litter and refuse apart from some small items |
| C | Widespread distribution of litter and/or refuse with minor accumulations |
| D | Heavily affected by litter and/or refuse with significant accumulations |
For detritus (mud, soil, grit etc):
| Grade | Definition |
| A | No detritus |
| B | Predominantly free of detritus except for some light scattering |
| C | Widespread distribution of detritus with minor accumulations |
| D | Heavily affected by detritus with significant accumulations |
| Litter and Refuse | |||
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Grade A No litter or refuse |
Grade B Predominantly free of litter and refuse apart from some small items |
Grade C Widespread distribution of litter and/or refuse with minor accumulations |
Grade D Heavily affected by litter and/or refuse with significant accumulations |
| Litter and refuse in a soft surface setting | |||
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Grade A No Litter or Refuse |
Grade B Predominantly free of litter and refuse apart from some small items |
Grade C Widespread distribution of litter and/or refuse with minor accumulations |
Grade D Heavily affected by litter and/or refuse with significant accumulations |
| Detritus | |||
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Grade A No detritus |
Grade B Predominantly free of detritus except for some light scattering |
Grade C Widespread distribution of detritus with minor accumulations |
Grade D Heavily affected by detritus with significant accumulations |
Zones and Response Times
All areas maintained by Charnwood Borough Council have been classified into one of four main land zones, which are set out in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse. If a site falls to a grade C or D for either litter and refuse, or detritus, it is deemed to be unacceptable, and should be rectified within the set response times as laid out below:
| Zone | Description | Response Time |
| Zone 1 - high intensity of use | Busy public areas | Half a day. This means by 6pm if reported by 1pm; or by 1pm the next duty day if reported between 1pm and 6pm on the previous day |
| Zone 2 -medium intensity of use | 'Everyday' areas, including most housing areas occupied by people most of the time | 1 day. This means by 6pm the following evening. |
| Zone 3 - low intensity of use | Lightly trafficked areas that do not impact upon most peoples lives most of the time | 14 days. |
| Zone 4 - Areas with special circumstances | Situations where issues of health and safety, reasonableness and practicality are dominant considerations when undertaking environmental maintenance work | 28 days, or as soon as reasonably practicable |
Reporting and Resolving Problems
Should you find that a street or green space under Charnwood Borough Council's responsibility is not cleaned to the standards set out above, please report the problem by contacting us by email; cleaner.greener@charnwood.gov.uk or; telephone 01509 634563
Related Documents (1)
Leaf Fall Hotspots (Excel Spreadsheet, 0.1 Mb)
Frequently Asked Questions (1)
This will change from a frequency based contract to an output based contract, which means that it will be cleaned to meet and maintain the required standard. If it falls below the required standard, there are set times within which this must be rectified, or financial penalties will be imposed on the Contractor.
Every street in Charnwood has been categorised into a zone, labelled 1, 2, 3 or 4. These zones have been set according to the Environmental Protection Act (1990) Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, and depend on the level of usage of particular areas. For example, a town centre street is heavily used, is likely to be more heavily littered, so will be a zone 1; a rural road is far less heavily used, is likely to be littered less, so will be a zone 4.
Each of the four zones has associated ‘response’ times set out in the Code of Practice. It is within these times that an area should be returned to an acceptable level of cleanliness, although the Contractor should aim to maintain an acceptable level of cleanliness at all times.
The level of cleanliness is categorised using a grading system of A to D, whereby A shows that an area has very little or no litter or detritus, through to D which is heavily littered with significant accumulations of litter or detritus.
For more information, please refer to the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse, which is available here: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/local/litter/code/documents/cop-litter.pdf
Last updated: Wed 12th October, 2011 @ 11:40
