New blitz on grime hotspots

12.00.00am GMT Wed 21st Mar 2007

Environmental eyesores across the borough will be subjected to a clean up blitz as part of a massive London-wide operation over the coming months.

Richmond Council and a host of other agencies will join in an intensive drive as part of the Capital Clean Up campaign, set to run for 100 days. The campaign is a multi-agency effort to make the capital a safer, cleaner more attractive place in which to live, work and visit. And in Richmond upon Thames there will be special purges targeting environmental nuisances such as graffiti, flyposters, flytips, litter and dog fouling. It is all part of an ongoing effort by the Council to clean-up the environment. The Council will continue its partnership working with organisations such as the Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP), the Community Safety Partnership, and the Richmond Police Safer Neighbourhood Teams. The Community Payback scheme will continue to be deployed, under which offenders will be supervised while carrying out jobs such as clearing litter and graffiti. This scheme is a joint operation between the Council, police and the Probation Service and is proving very successful in the effort to ensure a clean, tidy borough.

The Council's Cabinet Member for the Environment, Cllr Martin Elengorn, said:

"This intensive action is all part of our continuing drive against environmental crime and anti-social behaviour. Tackling problems such as vandalism, litter and graffiti is a shared responsibility and that is why partnership working is so vitally important. Our borough is the greenest in London and we are determined with our partners to ensure it's also one of the cleanest and so here in Richmond upon Thames we will be playing a full part in the Capital Clean Up effort over the coming months."