Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“Relevant Background Information

      The figures presented in this report cover the third quarter of the financial year i.e. the period from October, 2008 to December, 2008.  Monitoring figures were measured by Cleansing Services Quality Officers.  Enforcement, and Education and Awareness information was supplied by the Customer Support Service, and the Community Awareness Section within Cleansing Services, who were responsible for these functions over the period concerned.

      The monthly monitoring programme consists of a random 5% sample of streets throughout the city being inspected and graded.  From the grading, a Street Cleanliness Index is calculated and plotted for the various areas of the city, and the city as a whole.

      The index range is from 1 to 100; with a Cleanliness Index of 67 being regarded as an acceptable standard by Tidy NI standards.  The results show the trends on a month to month basis.  To alleviate the influence of spurious results on the overall index, the results are averaged over the last 4 surveys.  Spurious results may occur for reasons such as adverse weather conditions, seasonal problems etc.

Key Issues

      The overall city wide cleanliness index for this quarter is 72.  This is the same as the previous quarter’s cleanliness index of 72.

      The index for the same period in the previous year was 70.

      The breakdown by individual area is as follows:

      North

      The North Cleanliness Indices for October 2008 to December 2008 were 72, 69 and 71 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 2), November (up 2) and December (up 1), by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 70, 67 and 70 respectively. 

      The area is maintaining a consistently good level of cleanliness.

      South

      The South Cleanliness Indices for October 2008 to December 2008 were 75, 76 and 73 respectively.  This represents a decrease for October (down 2) and an increase for November (up 9), and December (up 4) by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 77, 67 and 69 respectively.

      The area is maintaining a consistently very good level of cleanliness.

      East

      The East Cleanliness Indices for October 2008 to December 2008 were 74, 75 and 77 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 3), November (up 6), and December (up 3), by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 71, 69 and 74 respectively. 

      The area is maintaining a consistently very good level of cleanliness.

      West

      The West Cleanliness Indices for October 2008 to December 2008 were 70, 69 and 69 respectively.  This represents an increase for October (up 1) and December (up 2), and a similar score for November, by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 69, 69 and 67 respectively. 

      The area is maintaining a consistently good level of cleanliness

      Central

      The Central Cleanliness Indices for October 2008 to December 2008 were 70, 70 and 68 respectively.  This represents an increase for December (up 1), and a decrease for October (down 2) and November (down 4), by comparison to those figures for the same period in the previous financial year viz. 72, 74 and 67 respectively.

      Changes in the levels of litter have contributed to the reduction in scores over this period e.g. in October, Dog Fouling related litter rose by 6% and Fast Food related litter rose by 6%.  In November, Drinks related litter rose by 9%, Smoking related litter rose by 17% and ‘Other’ related litter (e.g. papers, cardboard etc) rose by 21%. 

      The area is however maintaining a consistently good level of cleanliness

      Complaints/Enquiries

      There were 1193 complaints/enquiries regarding street cleansing during the quarter (by comparison to 1315 last quarter).

      There were 3 Corporate Complaints (3 Stage One, 0 Stage Two and 0 Stage Three) during the quarter – none of which related to street cleansing.

      Enforcement

      There were 432 Fixed Penalty Notices issued under the Litter (NI) Order 1994, and 89 summonses issued.  In addition 65 Article 20 Notices were issued requesting information.

      Community & Education Projects

      During the last quarter the Community Awareness Team organised 9 cleanups involving 127 volunteers, and 3 community talks involving 55 people. 

      The team also attended 51 schools involving 1801 young people, including 34 visits to nursery schools with the Christmas Elf, spreading the anti-litter message.

Resource Implications

      There are no financial, human resources, asset or other implications in this report.

Recommendation

      Members are asked to note the content of this report.”

Noted.