Time to spruce up Oxford's streets (From Oxford Mail)

Time to spruce up Oxford's streets

6:40am Monday 2nd November 2009 in

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OXFORD’s litter-strewn streets are filthy – and you have told us it’s time to do something about it!

So, today the Oxford Mail teams up with Oxford City Council and local businesses to launch a new campaign called Cleaner, Greener Oxford, aimed at reducing the £1m you are paying every year to clean our streets.

The message to everyone is simple – bin your rubbish and help preserve Oxford’s reputation as one of Britain’s most attractive cities.

Pcsos, council officers and street wardens will step up patrols and hit litterbugs with £80 on-the-spot fines as they target the cigarette butts, chewing gum and litter dropped every day.

Meanwhile, shoppers, businesses and residents are being urged to back the campaign by disposing of all rubbish correctly and taking pride in their area of the city.

We quizzed people about the state of the city and almost everyone agreed – the problem is getting worse.

John Tanner, the city council’s executive member for a cleaner, greener city, said: “Everyone’s getting together to make Oxford city centre even cleaner.

“Traders and the city council have made improvements but there’s a lot more to do. We want people to stop dropping litter and make the city centre a no-go area for litter, chewing gum and cigarette butts. No-one likes to see messy streets.

“We all have a part to play – don’t drop that wrapper or cigarette butt, because if you do it we have to clean up the mess and we could fine you.”

Takeaways in the city centre have been heavily criticised for the rubbish mounting up in streets.

But McDonald’s, in Cornmarket Street, is backing the new campaign. Franchise owner Carl Room said: “As a local businessman, I’m committed to ensuring we play our part in tackling litter. We regularly pick up all the litter we find in Cornmarket, and we’re aiming to double our efforts and tackle litter across a wider area.”

Campaign group Oxclean, backed by the Oxford Civic Society, is also involved in the scheme.

Society chairman Tony Joyce said: “We’ve been campaigning and working through Oxclean for years now and we are very pleased to see further action being taken.

“We hope this campaign fully receives all the support it deserves.”

• Each year Oxford’s street cleaners collect 600 tonnes of rubbish from the city’s 160 bins.

• On-the-spot fines can be given to anyone caught dropping litter, discarding rubbish from a vehicle, throwing away cigarette ends or chewing gum, fly-posting and graffiti.

• If people fail to pay the £80 fine, they face fines at the magistrates’ court of up to £2,500.

• Last month Oxford City Council added 28 litter bins to the city centre and increased litter picking to 188 hours per week.

• Last year it spent £26,000 removing chewing gum from Cornmarket Street alone.

• The council estimates a minimum of 100,000 cigarette ends are left on the streets of Oxford every week.

To report litter, graffiti & flyposting in Oxford, call 0800 227676 or call our newsdesk on 01865 425500.