Some of the keen-eyed among you may have noticed our staff out and about in purple polo shirts with ‘Localities’ written on them.
This is our new Localities Service, created to bring together a lot of the activities we already delivered across the borough. By pulling all these different things under one team, we can offer a more flexible and resilient service targeting those issues you tell us are the most important.
We know you are proud of the appearance and standard of cleanliness where you live. So to help keep the borough’s appearance up to scratch, the Localities Service has been inspecting an additional 100 roads across the borough to make sure our street cleaning contractors are doing what they should be.
We have also changed our approach to tackling fly-tipping. When our Localities staff visit a fly-tipping incident they now place an orange sticker on it. This lets you know that we are dealing with it.
We also help you get involved in your communities by directly supporting the work of local residents’ groups. This includes things as signing up to the Adopt A Street scheme and organising the annual Borough Litter Pick, which this year collected more than 30 tonnes of rubbish during one weekend.
Keeping children and young people active and involved in positive pastimes is another issue that concerns you. So Localities has been supporting the creation of activities including Arts Week during the Easter holidays, new youth group sessions, and have ensured the junior warden scheme continues its success.
And as the number of homes within our borough increases, we have been making sure new community centres and facilities are included in each of the main housing developments. We also do the initial inspection for the Council Tax level for each home, to make sure the correct level is set.
