DEFRA wants cleaner local environments as opportunity knocks
February 14th 2006 The expansion of the Local Environment Quality Survey for England (LEQSE) and DEFRA’s ambition to encourage cleaner local environments could be good news for cleaning contractors.
At a meeting with council leaders at the end of January, Environment Secretary, Margaret Beckett, urged all local authorities to make the issue a top priority: “The quality of the area in which people live has a huge impact on the quality of their lives in general,” she said. “That is why improving the quality of Britain’s local environment is a top priority for me and for Defra.
“The new survey will allow us and local authorities to see how effectively the environment is being managed at a local level, as well as highlight areas which are performing poorly.”
Beckett said the new Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (which introduces heavier fines and tougher penalties for antisocial behaviour such as littering, graffiti-spraying, fly-tipping) should assist local authorities – and promised training and accredited courses will follow in the future. More articles from Cleaning Matters: | 
