"The simple fact is that litter is caused by a handful of people who really don't care that the problem they create costs everyone money to sort out and impacts on the quality of life for all of us"
Jonathan Shaw, Minister for the Environment
London, 4 Mar: Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw today urged the public and local authorities to continue the fight for cleaner streets as he published a new environmental survey.
In the comprehensive survey undertaken by ENCAMS on behalf of Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), it was found that graffiti tags and dog fouling had decreased from last year, but cigarette ends were still the most widespread kind of litter on English streets - found in 78% of sites surveyed. Fast food litter remained at the same level as last year.
ENCAMS, the organisation behind the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, monitored a representative sample of 54 local authorities across England to give a national and regional picture of how clean streets are.
Fast food, which has risen every year since the survey began six years ago, was unchanged from last year at around 24% of the sites surveyed.
Dog fouling is down slightly, from 8% in 2005-06 to 7% in 2006-07.
Headcams used in Gloucester to capture evidence on littering (Photo: City of Gloucester)
The tag component of graffiti has declined, from 37% two surveys ago to 31% in the latest one.
Cigarette litter is little changed, though down from 79% to 78%.
The survey found that Public Transport infrastructure was the cleanest land-use type.
Speaking to the ENCAMS Cleaner Safer Greener Network conference today, Jonathan Shaw said:
"We know that for most people the idea of using the pavement as a dustbin is unthinkable. The simple fact is that litter is caused by a handful of people who really don't care that the problem they create costs everyone money to sort out and impacts on the quality of life for all of us.
"We know too that local authorities are using the new powers we've given them to tackle the problem. Fixed Penalty Notices are up, and fine payment rates are up. They are doing more to remove the offending litter and keep the streets clean.
However the Minister acknowledged that there is still much room for improvement.
A website designed specifically for the local environment management sector, and aimed at employers, employees and training suppliers, was also launched at today's conference.
Further information
The LEQSE survey is carried out for Defra by ENCAMS and covers a representative sample of 54 local authorities across the nine regions of England. This is the sixth such survey to have been conducted. The full results are available online at
http://www.encams.org/uploads/publications/LEQSE_Year_6_Report.pdf
Defra has funded an extended LEQSE survey across every local authority in England. The results for half those surveyed are available now, the remainder will be published later this year. Those already published can be seen on the DirectGov website at
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/WhereYouLive/Streetcleaninglitterandillegaldumping/DG_068470