Southampton City Council kicks off Great British Spring Clean campaign
New focus on cleaning streets and tackling fly-tipping
Southampton City Council is calling for volunteers to take part in community litter picks across the city as part of the national Great British Spring Clean campaign. The council is encouraging all residents, community groups and businesses to take part.
The theme this year is ‘Million Mile Mission’ whereby volunteers pledge to litter pick for a certain amount of time to help achieve the collective target of a million miles, the equivalent of going to the moon and back twice!
Litter is not only a problem for two weeks of the year and the council’s City Services team work hard year round on keeping Southampton clean and tidy. People that drop litter let the whole city down.
Announcing a renewed focus on cleaning up Southampton’s streets and tackling fly-tipping, Councillor Steve Galton, Cabinet Member for Environment, said:
“Firstly I’d like to thank all those dedicated community volunteers, who head out year round to keep their local areas clean and tidy, through local litter picking. Cleaning up the city and making people proud to call Southampton home again is a top priority of our new administration.
"The Great British Spring Clean is a great chance for us all to come together and pitch in to clean up our streets and parks as we Get Southampton Moving, attracting more people to enjoy our districts and city centres.
“It is the perfect time for us to announce our renewed focus on keeping Southampton clean and we will bring forward plans to invest in this area over the coming weeks and months. As well as supporting these events, we will be delivering a strong message that littering and fly-tipping is a crime and we will be cracking down on it.”
Littering is a crime which reduces the quality of life for people who live, work or visit the city. Enforcement officers are out across Southampton reminding residents of this and can enforce fines of £75 to those who litter. We are determined to restore pride in our city and send a clear message – all and any littering is unacceptable.
The City Services Engagement Team are supporting the campaign with the loan of equipment, supply of sacks and collection of litter. We have also produced some safety guidelines to help keep everyone safe.
We want to make sure that every single minute of litter picking makes a difference, so we ask that you let us know in advance of the area you intend to litter pick, to make sure that you will not be litter picking the same space as someone else, especially in our parks and open spaces. It also enables us to keep a local tally of litter collected. You can register your litter pick or request to borrow equipment.
Remember to pledge your miles on the GBSC website to help them reach their million-mile target.
We are grateful that we have many community groups and individuals helping to keep our parks, streets and open spaces clean and litter free, with lots more putting on events during the Great British Spring Clean campaign. If you’re running an event, please add it to the ‘Pledge to Pick’ section on the Keep Britain Tidy website, to help underline the commitment that is being made to the environment in the city and to improving public spaces for all to enjoy.
