Newcastle launches clean-up of the city

Newcastle City Council has announced a £1 million clean-up of the city to sweep the streets, pick up litter, remove dog mess, erase graffiti and cutback overgrown shrubbery.

Following an 11 per cent drop in satisfaction with street cleaning over two years, the authority will provide every ward with extra resources. A recent Residents’ Survey highlighted that 57 per cent of people said clean streets were the most important thing in making neighbourhoods a good place to live.

Nick Kemp, cabinet member for Neighbourhoods, said: “Newcastle is a great city with great people but it is clear from our survey that people are seeing the results of austerity on the ground as we have been forced to cut back on keeping the city clean. Good financial stewardship has enabled us to build up savings that will be used to address the concerns of our residents and businesses, the message is clear, we are listening to you.

“This will be an amazing year for Newcastle. The Great Exhibition of the North will attract thousands of visitors to the city and so we want to begin now to get the city looking its best. Council staff will be deployed in every ward and we hope within weeks people will see a visible difference in their back lanes, parks, neighbourhoods, and city centre. It’s an initiative that we plan to build on, and we hope that community groups will get involved.”