Smarter York Spring Clean
Issued by City of York Council
Today (Tuesday) the Cabinet Member responsible for street environment will consider a report evaluating the Spring Clean which took place in May this year and proposes similar schemes for the future.
Over 560 hours of work and more than 1,600 bags of litter were collected during May as part of City of York Council and the North Yorkshire and York Probation Trust’s Smarter York Spring Clean.
The team started the Spring Clean in Westfield when they collected litter and rubbish from Westfield Fenn. Over 90 bags of rubbish were collected as well as a mattress and a sofa.
Over the rest of the week over 100 bags of rubbish were collected from the Teddar Road, Chesney Field and Foxwood park areas.
On week two the team focussed their efforts on the Tang Hall area. During the week they edged the footpaths along Millfield Lane and Temple Avenue and the cycle track from Melorosegate to the travellers site. Over 204 hours of work were clocked-up during the week and 50+ bags of edging removed each day.
Week three of the spring clean saw the team turn their efforts to the Bell Farm area of the city. During the week they picked litter and edged footpaths from around the Bull Ring area and South Beck areas. They collected 50+ bags of edging each day and over 100 bags of litter by the end of the week.
For the final week of the spring clean the team focused on the outer lying parishes. Work was done in Escrick to level the BMX track and redistribute the soil to make it a safe place for children to play. Graveyard maintenance was also carried out at the Holy Trinity Church in Stockton on the Forest.
Cllr David Levene, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Said: “The Spring Clean was a great way to bring many organisations together from around York to help make a Smarter York.
“With over 560 hours of work clocked-up and 1,600 bags of litter collected I think it has shown what can be done when people work together as a team. We wanted to look at what went well so we can make future events even better.”
The city-wide Smarter York campaign aims to help maintain a clean, green and safe environment for York. The initiative encourages and works with residents to create attractive neighbourhoods with a real sense of community and to tackle the things that can spoil the city’s neighbourhoods, for example littering or graffiti.
The report coming to the public Decision Session at 4pm today (20 August) also recommends running similar events in the future, with a greater focus on aspects such as recruiting volunteers.
For more information and to get involved please visit the Smarter York web page or follow @SmarterYork on Twitter.