PUBLIC awareness about the harm caused by littering and now to deal with it has been become a cross-party priority.

Recently, Liberal Democrat Councillor Paul Hodgkinson presented a motion to Cotswold District Council's Cabinet members to tackle the growing problem in the district.

Responding to the motion, Cabinet member for the environment, Councillor Sue Coakley, outlined that the council operates both a proactive and reactive programme of street and road cleansing depending on location involving 13 workers who respond to alerts from local residents and councillors when a local issue needs attention.

However, she also emphasised that there was scope to spread the word more about the help at hand from the district council via its website homepage and to educate the public generally about ways to combat littering.

“We operate both a proactive and demand-led service and, due to the efforts of our environmental services company Ubico Ltd, we can use efficiency savings from the waste collection service to fund additional street cleaning when the need arises.

“Ubico also operates a programme of roadside clearance which is adjusted according to need. Additionally, the environmental wardens at the district council have established good relationships with local people and organisations that are just as keen as we are to combat littering and fly tipping.

“Despite all this good practice, littering is still a concern and we want to make sure that the public are fully aware of our reactive service, as well as reminding them about the lawful means of disposing of their litter. As a result, we have modified our website to simplify the process for reporting littering – including fly tipping - which requires the attention of our clean-up teams. Our homepage now displays a green button marked ‘report littering or fly tipping’ which takes you straight to the relevant webpage for reporting an incident, and enables us to attend to the matter promptly.

“We are very fortunate that we have extremely efficient and proactive environmental service professionals and also many residents who take such great pride in the appearance of the district and want it to look its best, at all times of the year. There is, however, more to be done and we have already allocated an additional £68,000 to the street cleansing budget for 2015/16. I have also arranged for an options paper to review our current arrangements and investigate whether we can do even better in the future."

The council stated it appreciated the help it received from local communities willing to undertake their own litter picks. The council provides equipment and arranged to collect the filled bags.

Anyone interested in organising an event should call 01285 623000 and speak to the customer service team.