Cleaner streets for all as Islington Council puts dedicated neighbourhood sweepers in every road

**To download hi-res photos, please click on the images above. Picture caption: Cllr Claudia Webbe, executive member for environment and transport, at Islington Town Hall with some of the street beat sweepers.**

Residents are set to get their own dedicated neighbourhood street sweeper who visits at least five times per week under new plans unveiled by Islington Council today (March 13).

The improved way of working will see the upgraded street cleaning regime also tied into the recycling and refuse collection rounds, so cleaners will visit soon after residents’ bins have been collected, clearing up anything that may have been missed or spilled within hours.

Starting in late spring, 86 street sweepers will be assigned their own beats and clean these roads a minimum of five times per week, Monday to Friday.

Cllr Claudia Webbe, Islington’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “We all want to see clean streets when we walk out of our front door, and this new way of working is a win-win, with residential streets being cleaned much more regularly.

“Residents will quickly start to recognise and get to know their own dedicated street sweepers, and their work should in turn boost civic pride and improve all our neighbourhoods, while drastically reducing street litter.

“Our bustling high streets and main roads will continue to be cleaned every day but, thanks to a raft of new equipment and a boost to our graffiti cleaning teams, Islington is going to look sharper than ever.”

The current arrangements see most residential roads deep-cleaned once per week by a street sweeper and litter-picked twice weekly with a van, but the new regime will see street sweepers given their own ‘beat’ – a handful of streets they will deep-clean a minimum of five times per week, drastically cutting down on litter.

The 86 routes will also be timed to follow the recycling and refuse trucks as they make their collections around the borough.

Every sweeper will also be given access to a mobile device so they can report fly-tips or other issues to colleagues straight away. They will have separate rubbish and recycling bins on their new barrows to further increase recycling rates. The service will also be independently monitored with a new back-office system.

Main roads will still be deep-cleaned every single day, but the redesign means fewer vehicles will need to be used overall, cutting down on carbon emissions and air pollution.

The existing graffiti removal crew will be expanded to three teams, and two more pavement pressure washers will help keep the main roads even cleaner.

This is in addition to the six existing mechanical pavement sweepers and three road channel mechanical sweepers Three brand new refuse and recycling trucks that run on compressed natural gas, and a street sweeping vehicle, will also be deployed on a trial basis as the council looks to phase out diesel and petrol heavy vehicles from its fleet.

The announcement comes during a borough-wide spring clean campaign this month, which will see the council’s street cleaning services targeting town centres and grot spots around the borough.

The council is calling on schools, businesses and residents to roll up their sleeves and get involved in keeping their borough spick and span.

To find out more and get involved in one of the Community Clean-ups, please email tony.montgomery@islington.gov.uk.