Introduction
Creating a Greener and Cleaner District is one of the Council's four-year strategic priorities as part of its commitment to enhance the well being and quality of life for residents and visitors.
The Street Cleansing is carried out by the Council's own Street Scene Services Section in conjunction with a number of key Partners including Town, Parish Council's and various Community Groups from the Voluntary Sector.

What is street cleaning?
Street Cleansing is the removal of dirt, mud, litter, grease and debris, and leaf fall from adopted highways. It includes the removal of litter from verges and footpaths alongside adopted highways and cleaning footpaths and other communal areas that are independent of a road such as those that run through Council's housing estates.

About the Law
There is no legal requirement for a Local Authority to clean roads at any particular frequency although, as a 'duty holder' under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, we do have to ensure that roads and open spaces under our control are cleaned if they become badly littered.

It is the standard of cleanliness rather than the frequency of cleaning that is important, and programmed cleaning often concentrates on those areas which have most pedestrian or vehicle traffic, to enable us to target the worst affected areas of the District. However we do have to balance the resources available to respond to complaints and deal with litter hotspots.

Zoning and Grading
The whole of the District is divided into prescribed zone types according to the main use of the land in a particular area. Although litter is unacceptable anywhere in the District, the time that the Council has to bring a littered area to a reasonable condition varies according to its zone and the amount of litter. The Zones, Grades and response times are set out in Government's Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse.

Land is categorised as one of four grades according to the amount of litter that is present as follows:

Grade A - Virtually no litter or refuse.
Grade B - Predominantly free from litter apart from small items.
Grade C - Widespread distribution of litter with minor accumulation.
Grade D - Heavily littered with significant accumulations.

Grade A is the standard, which a thorough programmed or responsive sweeping/litter picking should achieve. Whilst Grade A is the Council's aim, it is not reasonable to expect this standard to be maintained at all times. The grades that are acceptable is generally either A or B. If a complaint is received, the time within which the Council should rectify the situation and the grade that must be achieved after clearing is detailed below.

The time given is the time within which the area has to be returned to the acceptable standard. For example, if an area of the town centre is a zone 1 and it is an area for which the Council is responsible and has fallen to grade C, we have 3 hours to return it to grade A.

Communal Areas on Housing Estates
A programme has been implemented to ensure that all of the Communal Areas and Bin Stores around Flats are visited at least once a month and any fly tipping removed.

Management and Supervision
The contractor has integrated its Street Cleansing and Horticultural Services to improve the co-ordination and performance. This is has dedicated management and supervision with support from an administration team. The offices will be staffed from 7.30am am to 5.30pam Monday to Friday.

Monitoring of Service Standards.
The Council has two Officers who are responsible for inspecting and monitoring the standards of service the Council and its Partners achieve, in line with Central Governments Best Value Performance requirements (BVPI 199).

The BVPI survey is designed to provide a 'representative' picture of the level of cleanliness within an authority. More importantly, the survey enables local authorities to compare their performance with national benchmarks (produced annually by Defra's Local Environmental Quality Survey of England - LEQSE), on a 'like-for-like' basis.

At Braintree the inspections comprises of selecting and visiting 38 different locations (transects) in 8 different Land Class Uses (304 inspections every four months) and grading them in accordance with the EPA standards above.

Information regarding the Street Cleansing performance is published annually by the Council.

The Town and Parish Council's also play an important part in monitoring the service standards and advising us when they become unsatisfactory. In addition monitoring is carried out by the Street Scene Services Team, in response to comments received from Residents, Council Officers and Councillors.

How do I report a Street Cleansing problem?
If you notice a street or area that you feel requires cleansing you can report it to the Councils Customer Contact Centre on 01376 552525.

As a Resident or Visitor you can help us to keep the street and open spaces of Braintree looking clean and green.

Avoiding dropping litter (Use the litter bins provided).

Educate family members about the importance of litter avoidance.

Avoiding over filling refuse or recycling containers.

Report unsatisfactory standards to the Council