Mayor's News - September 2008

Local residents have long told me that keeping the streets clean and tidy is one of their most important concerns. A recent survey bore this out, when over 600 residents from all over the borough were asked what they thought about street cleanliness. 90% of them said that people dropping litter was something that really annoyed them, while 96% believed that we all have a duty to keep our streets clean. Sadly, a small minority – 8% - admit to dropping litter when nobody is looking. Keeping the streets clean is obviously important for health, safety and environmental reasons, but the cleanliness of streets and public places is also a barometer of the respect communities have for their environment and is something that deeply affects civic pride, community spirit and the reputation of a place.

That’s why, in my manifesto, I promised that we’d work to make Hackney’s streets cleaner. There have been huge improvements over the past few years thanks to our street cleaners who work round the clock seven days a week and the vast majority of residents and businesses who take pride in the place they live and work.

This year, an additional £395,000 has been set aside to double the number of graffiti-busting teams, boost fly-poster removal services, and increase the number of street cleaners. They will be focused on town centre areas and sweeping up to 200 of the borough’s roads more regularly.

Last year, the Council collected 10,852 tonnes of rubbish from Hackney streets, but maintaining our streets to the level we want relies on all of us playing our part. With over one thousand bins in the borough, more than 800 recycling points and free bulky domestic waste collections, there’s really no excuse for littering the streets, fly tipping or allowing dogs to foul our pavements.

It’s easy to think that the occasional bit of litter we leave on the streets doesn’t matter, but it very quickly adds up. Dropping litter and leaving rubbish on the streets is unhygienic, anti-social and illegal; it also means that the Council has to spend more money than other boroughs on picking up excess litter rather than really lifting the appearance of the borough for example with intensive street washing. It‘s not acceptable for a small minority of people to make life unpleasant for the rest. So Hackney’s four teams of environmental enforcement officers will be taking action against anyone they catch fly-posting, littering, not cleaning up after their dogs or defacing our buildings with graffiti. Offenders face fixed penalty notices or prosecution and fines up to £2,500. Officers will also be taking action against any businesses that are not meeting their responsibilities.

We can all help to make the place more attractive by putting our rubbish in the bin or taking it home with us and generally helping to keep Hackney tidy.

I am determined to continue to drive for making Hackney the cleaner, safer and greener place we all deserve. But it takes everybody to play their part. It's not difficult, and there is really no excuse for the thoughtless - and filthy - minority to ruin Hackney for the rest of us as well as causing the waste of millions of taxpayers' money.

Mayor Jules Pipe

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Page updated: 10 Sep 2008