North West Liveability Pilot Campaigns

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council will be campaigning against alcohol-related litter and smoking-related litter. On smoking, Oldham Council will work alongside ENCAMS for its national campaign (to view more click here). During the summer Oldham will also be concentrating on the issue of gum in the town centre, raising awareness of the expense to clean it from streets. Recent market research revealed that Oldham residents viewed dumped junk as a real problem in the town and in response, the council will be campaigning against fly-tipping.

Preston City Council will be campaigning against smoking-related litter and gum in the summer, reinforcing the message that both are regarded as litter under the law. And in September/October they will campaign to students about waste left out on the wrong day. During Fresher’s week at the University of Central Lancashire, the council will appeal to students to leave their rubbish out on the correct collection days. The campaign will highlight the hazards posed by wheelie bins and bin bags to elderly and disabled passers by.

Carlisle Housing (part of Riverside Housing Group) Carlisle Housing Association has been encouraging residents, visitors and those who work on the Botcherby estate to stub their fag ends and bin them in order to curb cigarette litter. Throughout July, posters reminding people to ‘stub it, bin it’ have been displayed on the estate to tie in with the new smoking legislation, which will see more people lighting up outdoors.

600 personal ashtrays have been handed out so far to residents and cigarette bins have been placed around the estate including at the sheltered scheme for staff, residents and visitors to use; outside the Botcherby Action Team office and at the Housing Association office.

The campaign will be evaluated by speaking to residents and staff at the sheltered scheme and the Housing Office to see if they have been using the cigarette bins and personal ashtrays and if in their opinion, the amount of cigarette litter outside the buildings has changed.

A street survey carried out at the beginning of the North West Liveability Pilot Programme will be compared to one carried out at the end of the pilot to see if there has been an upturn or downturn in the amount of cigarette litter.

During July and August the organisation will tackle the issue of dog fouling using some of the visuals from an ENCAMS campaign (click here to view more details). Carlisle Housing is also looking to campaign against drugs-related litter, highlighting the dangers of dumped needles.

Wigan Borough Council will be campaigning against food-related litter and in June will tackle the issue of smoking-related litter before the smoke free legislation comes into force. The council will also revisit last year’s campaign against chewing gum in the town centre, which was highly successful.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council will be campaigning against alcohol and drinks-related litter in an area called Poets Corner in partnership with Stockport Homes. From April to June, posters will be displayed around Poets Corner reminding residents that they face a fine if they are caught dropping litter.

Council officials will visit local schools and residents groups to reinforce the message and encourage youngsters and adults to use a bin. As part of the same campaign Stockport Council is also organising a community clean up involving the local community group, youth club, district rangers, street cleansing service and local councillors. During the campaign period there will also be increased enforcement. Stockport Council has chosen to concentrate on the problem of drinks related litter after a survey of the streets in Poets Corner found alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks litter to be a problem and market research found that local residents wanted the issue of litter addressing.

Later in the year Stockport Council hopes to improve landscape maintenance, which has great benefits for the overall impression of local environmental quality.

Vale Royal Borough Council is concerned that the amount of cigarette ends blighting the streets will increase when the smoke free legislation comes into force in England and in response will be campaigning against smoking-related litter in June. The council will also focus on the issue of alcohol-related litter with a campaign to drive down the number of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks bottles found in parks and open spaces. Vale Royal Council will also run a youth campaign, educating young people about the littering law and encouraging them to use a bin.

South Ribble Borough Council will be highlighting the blight of takeaway boxes, sandwich cartons and chip wrappers on its streets in their food-related litter campaign. The council will also focus on the issue of smoking-related litter in the run up to the ban on smoking in public places.