Gosport Street Cleansing Methods

The Borough Council has a duty to keep public highways and specified land clean and clear of litter and refuse as set out in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (April 2006), referred to throughout as the Code. This function is undertaken by Urbaser Ltd, who are the Councils chosen Contractor for street cleansing.

The street cleansing service broadly consists of litter collection and cleansing of roads, car parks, parks, recreation areas, play areas and public areas. The removal of dead animals, graffiti, litter bin installation and emptying, cleansing of street furniture including GBC bus shelters and the removal of fly tipping from such areas for which the council has a statutory duty.  

The Code establishes standards of cleanliness and response times to maintain these standards and the Contractors specification is based on these principles.  The emphasis is on the consistent appropriate management of an area to keep it clean, not on how often it is cleaned.

The Code sets out a grading system for assessing cleanliness standards as follows:

Grade A: No litter or refuse

Grade B: Predominantly free of litter and refuse, apart from some small items

Grade C: Widespread distribution of litter and/or refuse with minor accumulations

Grade D: Heavily affected by litter and/or refuse with significant accumulations

The Council has zoned all its streets and roads as recommended in the Code. All streets/roads in the Borough are in high, medium or low intensity of use zones, with the exception of Amenity Beaches which have been classified in special circumstances. 

Please see the map of the borough here

Response Times

Zone	High intensity of use	Medium intensity of use	Low intensity of use	Special Circumstances
Response times to return a street/road to a Grade A standard.	½ day   This means by 1800 if reported by 1300 or by 1300 the next day if reported between 1300 and 1800 the previous day	1 day   This means by 1800 the following evening	14 days	Amenity Beaches Between 1 April and 30 September as for high intensity use. Between 1 October and 31 March as for low intensity use.

 

Like previous Contracts there is a frequency based schedule; however this is based on an area frequency as opposed to specific roads.  The Borough is split into four areas for cleansing purposes, with each area visited on a four weekly rota to low intensity roads.  Shopping areas, roads with high pedestrian footfall, schools, beaches etc are cleansed more frequently and graded as either high or medium intensity.  Roads that are cleansed less than 3 times a week are not given a specific day for cleansing, but are noted as due a visit during the scheduled week.  A mechanical sweeper is used in most areas that will be followed by a manual crew to attend to areas that cannot be reached by the vehicle.

If you have any questions then please contact Streetscene on free phone 08000 198 598 or streetscene@gosport.gov.uk