Who's the cleanest of them all?
February 1st 2007 The Clean Britain Awards Finale has arrived. For the past 12
months, since the competition saw a move from Britain's
Cleanest City competition to its current format we have had UK
cities, towns and districts battle it out to claim the crown of Cleanest
Place in Britain.
Following a June 2006 deadline, entrants in the British Cleaning
Council (BCC)'s competition were whittled down to finalists in three
categories: Cities,Towns and Districts with the opportunity of one
overall winner to claim the Cleanest Crown.
The next stage in the competition was for judges to receive a
presentation, in September 2006, from all finalists. From October 2006
to February 2007 judges toured all areas on different occasions
both announced to the local council and press and unannounced.
The finale of the Clean Britain Awards is taking place at 12pm on
Tuesday 13th March at our very own Cleaning Show (the Show is coowned
by BCC and Quartz Publishing & Exhibitions).This is the
perfect platform for the unveiling of Britain's cleanest locations.
Finalists, as well as the remaining Local Authority entrants of the
awards, will all descend on the Show on the Tuesday for an invitationonly
luncheon presentation to see the category and overall winners
claim their rightful spot on the clean throne.
Each of our finalists have done something in particular to grab the
attention of the judges.Whether it was through a thorough entry
application complying to strict entry requirements, a dazzling
presentation or even pulling out all the stops for judging visits
whether they were announced or unannounced.Here is a little taster
of what each has to offer:
City Finalists:
BIRMINGHAM previous Cleanest City competition winner in 1995
Birmingham runs a city centre partnership for key city organisations to
keep the centre in shape. City centre wardens are also in operation to
keep a close eye on graffiti, litter, vandalism and other problems
blighting the landscape.
CARDIFF the city runs the Keep Cardiff Tidy (KCT) partnership
which was launched in 2002 and has helped to reduce city centre
litter by 20%.KCT has rolled out many clean-up schemes including
Thanksbank recycling as well as campaigning on fly-tipping,
abandoned vehicles, gum and cigarette litter, not forgetting the Really
Rubbish campaign which has managed to boost waste awareness.
COVENTRY three key bodies work to keep the city in pristine
condition:Coventry City Council, CVOne city centre management
company plus Whitefriars Housing Group the largest registered
social landlord company.The council has invested £4billion into an
award-winning regeneration programme.
EDINBURGH the council has been running the Keep Edinburgh
Clean programme since 2000. Every year Edinburgh City Council
conducts a householder opinion survey to discover the public's main
bugbears and plan a campaign accordingly, for example on fast food
and littering.
LEEDS Leeds City Council aims to become the cleanest and
greenest city in Europe by 2020. It has set up a Cleanest City Task and
Working Group to deliver environmental improvements across the
city. Among their awareness raising campaigns was one that helped to
reduce cigarette litter by 49%.
CITY OF LONDON The current title holder of Britain's Cleanest
City 2005, the City of London Corporation is responsible for the
cleansing of London's financial square mile containing tourist
attractions such as Tower Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral.The City is
cleaned 24 hours a day, 364 days per year.
NEWCASTLE Newcastle City Council made the environment a key
part of its manifesto in 2004.The council has established Customer
Service contact centres as well as increasing the number of street
wardens to help the public with any concerns they may have.
Service contact centres as well as increasing the number of street
wardens to help the public with any concerns they may have.
TRURO Truro received the Chairman's Award of Continuing Good
Performance in Britain's Cleanest City 2005. Education and litter
awareness is an important element of the council's work.A recent
campaign was launched to urge the public not to drop litter and fuel
the local seagull population.
WESTMINSTER As winner of Britain's Cleanest City 2003,
Westminster's population reaches over a million every day with
thousands of businesses, restaurants, pubs etc.The council's approach
is to provide clean, safe streets with a problem solving approach, fixing
causes of street mess as opposed to dealing with symptoms.
YORK the Council has prioritised improvements on the cleanliness
and state of York under the banner of York Pride.A significant amount
of work has been undertaken to improve the cleanliness, safety and
image of the city centre and surrounding suburbs.
Borough Finalists:
IPSWICH - One of Ipswich Borough Council's top strategic goals is a
Clean and Green Ipswich. In March 2004 a new "StreetCare"group of
services was launched bringing together cleansing, highways, grounds
maintenance and parking services to contribute to this goal.
LEWISHAM - Lewisham is one of London's largest boroughs,
renowned for its rich diversity and its contrasting urban landscapes.
The council has also become synonymous with the use of
revolutionary street cleansing systems and the forging of close
working relationships with residents.
District Finalists:
BRAINTREE - Braintree has a number of initiatives which have been
successful in helping to maintain a clean, tidy and a safe district, with 21 Clean Britain Awards an emphasis placed on partnership working with local communities.
At the forefront of these initiatives are town and parish council
partnerships - currently 52 of 54 parish councils are signed up to
partnership agreements.
CHESTER - In 1999 Chester won the Cleanest City title and in 2001
received a Special Chairman's Award for consistency, creativity and
continuing effort. Chester District continues to be one of the top
visitor attractions in Britain welcoming over eight million visitors
annually, 1.5 million of which stay in Chester and the surrounding
areas.
DURHAM - Over the last five years City of Durham has totally
redesigned its provision of environmental services.Refuse and
recycling collection, street cleansing and grounds maintenance have
been totally integrated, and a single 'Streetscene' service is now
delivered using the 'Neighbourhood' service delivery principle within
six defined geographical areas.
MENDIP - Mendip District Council have worked hard over the last
couple of years to establish good partnership links with other
agencies and public bodies in an effort to improve the standard of
street cleaning and enhance the general environment for residents
and visitors across the district.
OADBY & WIGSTON - Oadby and Wigston is a small urban
borough situated south east of Leicester. Lacking a budget of scale it
aims to work small but intensively in order to make greatest use of all
resources available to them.Generating enthusiasm in the cleansing
teams, partnership working with all council service providers and
involving the community are key to keeping the borough clean.
The BCC would like to wish all our finalists the very best of luck in
the Clean Britain Awards 2007.
For further information, use the free reader enquiry service. More articles from British Cleaning Council: | 
