Street cleaning
We know that the residents of West Lothian place Street Cleanliness and the problem of litter as high on their priority list. As a result, West Lothian Council has a dedicated Street Cleansing Team, part of NETs and Land Services, who are responsible for keeping our Streets, Roads, Footpaths, Parks and Open Spaces clear from Litter and other debris.
This service operates a full programme of Street Cleansing in Local Areas to ensure that town centres and streets are cleaned regularly and when necessary. We use a combination of litter picking, manual sweeping and mechanical sweeping to remove litter and keep streets clean. As well as providing a comprehensive Street Cleansing service we also provide a large number of litter bins and dog fouling bins throughout West Lothian, which are emptied on a regular basis.
The Cleanliness of our Streets and Local Areas is monitored by Keep Scotland Beautiful and each local Authority is given a Cleanliness index score. The target cleanliness score is 72 and in 2009/10 we scored 72 and 2010/11 we scored 71. The Scottish Average in 2009/10 was 74.
(The Cleanliness Index is a measure based on the amount of litter found on streets and land that the council is responsible for, assessed on seven inspections per year. This indicator measures the cleanliness of our town centres, streets, footpath, and road verges. The assessments are carried out independently at different times throughout the year and an overall score provided.
The target set is the previous year's performance and the aim is to do better than the target and maximise the Cleanliness Index number)
In addition to the hard work of the Street Cleansing service our Environmental Wardens also contribute to addressing street cleanliness by taking enforcement action and by supporting a variety of community initiatives, in partnership with local schools and community groups, to help educate school children about the problem of litter and encourage everyone to play their part in looking after our local environment. To find out more about the work of the Environmental Wardens please use the following link: Environmental Wardens
In May 2008 West Lothian Council were awarded the Keep Scotland Beautiful award in recognition for the Spring Community Clean Ups which were carried out by Local Primary Schools in partnership with staff from NETs and Land Services. Over 3000 local people got involved, more people per head of population than any other Local Authority.
You can help play your part in maintaining an attractive and clean environment by reporting littering, dog fouling or fly tipping to our dedicated hotline number on 0800 616446
Updated 07/09/11
