Increased street cleaning along with a boosted graffiti removal service thanks to a one-off investment by Bath & North East Somerset Council has helped to spruce up the area.
Cllr Jess David with volunteers from Friends of Moorland Park and Clean & Green team operatives
The council’s Clean and Green teams have visited every ward in the district, completing 25 ‘action weeks’ responding to requests from councillors and residents.
The most common request was for weed removal, because the local authority no longer uses chemical weedkiller. The teams have also been litter picking and since October, have been clearing leaves.
They work alongside the Clean and Green Response team, which handles all the requests on the council’s Report It page.
More than 675 requests were dealt with, resolving the majority while in the area and passing roughly 10% to other council teams to action.
More than 80% of the requests were about overhanging vegetation in the council’s parks and green spaces, but the team has also dealt with overhanging vegetation which was blocking the visibility of signs or road junctions.
They have also been busy cleaning road signs, particularly those in Peasedown St John, Clutton, Farmborough and Keynsham.
In addition, the Clean and Green team has been working with community volunteer groups, schools and local councillors to organise community action days to help tackle problem areas.
To date, 15 action events have taken place locally including at Temple Cloud, Weston, Whitchurch, Larkhall and partners have included Weston Wombles and Weston Resident Associations, Friends of Moorland Park, Keynsham Wombles, Farrans Construction and the University of Bath Performance Rugby Squad.
Several local schools have also organised events including the Royal High, Paulton Junior School, Bathwick St Mary’s Church School, Chandag Junior School and St John’s Primary School in Oldfield Park.
Councillor Kevin Guy, leader of the council, said: “The additional funding and the hard work of everyone involved is helping to make B&NES a better place to live, work and visit.
“We would like to say a big thank to all the organisations and volunteers who are helping to keep B&NES clean and green and to growing number of regular volunteers who are organising and joining litter picks.
“So far this year we have collected more than 102 bags of litter and 45 bags of street weeds during community events, which is a remarkable achievement.”
Weed removal kits have also been lent to communities for residents to borrow. A group of volunteers from St Michael’s Church in Twerton has been making use of the weed removal equipment and is meeting on the first Tuesday of every month to litter pick and remove weeds along Twerton High Street.
The Residents’ Association in Bathwick has also been holding a litter pick and weed removal session most Saturdays, whilst the Chew Magna No Place For Litter hub has been busy lending out weed removal equipment to volunteers who have been clearing weeds around the parish flower beds and outside the Chew Magna fire station.
The recruitment of an additional graffiti removal officer funded by Clean and Green has allowed the council to offer free graffiti removal for domestic properties and provided a new truck fitted out with the necessary equipment.
The council’s Highways team also benefitted from clean and Green funding, which has paid for additional gulley cleaning. In the last three years, the team averaged 15,675 gully cleans a year and are on course to clean more than 24,440 this year.
