Clean Sweep Initiative Wages War On Litter

Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing tenants can look forward to cleaner streets following the introduction of a clean sweep initiative.
CNH will be working in partnership with Charnwood Borough Council and its street cleaning contractor, Serco, to ensure the public areas of CNH managed property are kept spick and span.
Under the terms of the new contract each area included has been assessed under new standards of service, so a new and better service can be delivered. Under previous contracts, services were delivered based on the number of times an area was cleaned, rather than the final appearance to the public.
As part of the set-up process for the new contract, Serco will be working hard to carry out a ‘deep clean’ of all of these areas to get them up to an acceptable standard, and it will then continue working to keep the areas clean.
Under the new contract, cleanliness of land will be monitored to ensure it is kept at an acceptable level of cleanliness. A team of officers, assisted by tenant representatives, are now being trained to ensure that these new standards are maintained and any lapses are reported. 
A number of residential areas have already been targeted, with more deep cleaning to be carried out over the coming months.
As areas are cleaned, a leaflet is dropped through the letter box of local properties to let them know what’s happening, and to give advice on how to deal with their waste responsibly.
Cllr Mike Preston, Leader of Charnwood Borough Council, said: “By deep cleaning the areas of housing land, and then working to keep them clean, we will be making a real difference to council tenants’ quality of life.
 “Creating a better living environment this will help to create a sense of ownership and pride for local areas, so encouraging residents to keep their streets clean. This work has already started to make a difference, and will continue to do so as our street cleaners work their way through their programme of cleaning.”
Isobel Rickard, CNH’s Director of Housing Operations, said: “We are glad to be working in partnership with the Council and Serco. The move to a cleaning contract that guarantees minimum levels of service represents a significant improvement in the appearance of the areas which we mange for the Council. This contract, together with the new standards for grounds maintenance which came into effect on 1st December, will be a giant leap forward in value for money for the tenants and leaseholders.”
Whilst Serco is busy cleaning up the council’s residential areas, it is also hard at work keeping the rest of the borough clean. With the start of the new Environmental Services contract on 1st August came changes to the way the streets are cleaned.  Previously, streets were cleaned to a set schedule, making systems inflexible when emergency clean-ups were needed. 
Now, cleaning is carried out to maintain a certain standard, and streets are cleaned as often as necessary to keep them at that acceptable level of cleanliness.
For more information on how the streets of Charnwood are kept clean, please visit www.charnwood.gov.uk, or for information on Charnwood Neighbourhood Housing, please visit www.cnh.org.uk.