The City Centre Neighbourhood Team take great pride in keeping the City of Bath clean and tidy. Approximately 25,000 tonnes of black bag rubbish from residents are collected annually in Bath. Litter and detritus collected within the Authority is 3,225 tonnes. Leaf fall is 300 tonnes. In a pioneering partnership arrangement, Bath and North East Somerset Council has worked with Residents’ Associations to review its delivery of cleansing and enforcement functions, which has brought about new investment in equipment and working methods, active resident involvement and a cleaner environment.
Central Bath’s streets are cleaned five times a day, seven days a week, between 6am and 6.30pm;
On Saturday and Sunday, eight cleaners constantly work central Bath, 6am – 6.30pm;
There are approximately 50 Big Belly solar powered litter bins in the city centre. Three specially developed electric trolleys with cages have enabled swift emptying;
Sixteen neighbourhood staff use traditional brooms alongside mechanical sweepers and electric suction litter collectors, one Aquazura street and Power Flex sweeper/washers;
We have a new Mercedes Sprinter Graffiti this year, which removes graffiti. It also removes stainage from the pavements in the city centre and does additional washing down when required;
No domestic refuse is allowed on the streets other than the day of collection. Trade refuse is forbidden on the street from 10am - 4pm;
Bath and North East Somerset Council is currently reviewing its policy on advertising boards to try and reduce ‘street clutter’;
Regular patrols by Enforcement Officers and Police Community Support Officers are carried out to target enviro-crime offenders. Residents’ and traders’ waste management practices are also monitored;
Government no smoking policy within premises has created a new challenge of discarded cigarette ends, which we combat using street vacuums and specific enforcement.
Litter, Street Care and Cleaning
The following links will help you to report issues to the Council, find out about your responsibilities as a resident or business and inform you of the Council’s role in helping to keep our streets clean. If you wish to report a problem, please go to Report it.
What we are doing, how much you could get fined and how to pay your fixed penalty notice (FPN).
What are we doing?
Our 3 environmental enforcement officers are working alongside an environmental enforcement company, 3GS, to increase our ability to tackle environmental crimes in the district and to raise the awareness of the harm caused by littering and dog fouling.
Environmental Enforcement Officers from 3GS will patrol across the district to take action on environmental crime and increase environmental awareness.
If you’re caught committing an environmental crime you could be issued with a fixed penalty notice or in more serious cases, such as fly tipping, be taken directly to court.
What is 'environmental crime'?
Environmental crime has a negative impact on your local community and costs the Council and its tax payers tens of thousands of pounds each year in clear up costs.
Environmental Crimes include:
Dropping litter on the street or from your vehicle, this includes chewing gum and cigarette butts.
Graffiti
Fly-tipping
Not putting your domestic or commercial waste out properly
Not clearing up after your dog
Breach of a Community Protection Notice
How much can you be fined?
Offence
Penalty amount
Reduced rate if Paid with 14 days
Dropping litter in the street
£150
£100
Dropping litter from your vehicle
£150
£100
Failure to produce a waste transfer note for commercial waste
£300
Not putting your domestic waste out properly
£60
Not putting your commercial waste out properly
£100
Not Clearing up your dog’s mess
£50
Fly tipping
£400
Bath Business Improvement District (BID)
In 2012, the Bath Business Improvement District group (BID) was formed to reinforce the Deep Cleaning programme around the city streets. The group includes BID levy payers, Bath and North East Somerset Council, landlords and small businesses. To date, the group have made a strong and positive impact in the following areas:
The appointment of five BID Rangers;
The acquisition of a BID Ranger vehicle and cleaning machine;
‘Making the most of our streets’ – a cleanup project street by street;
Weekly Community Payback activity;
Targeted deep clean activity in the worst areas of the city.
Operation Sunrise
‘Operation Sunrise’ is an initiative by the Council to raise awareness within the business community for the need to adhere to trade waste collection times. Early morning patrols have been made to check that rubbish was being put out at agreed times, which has resulted in reducing litter on the streets and making the city a more attractive place at night. It has also had an indirect benefit on the urban gull problem as it has meant that there is less food waste around for gulls to scavenge on.
Urban Gulls
The Council’s Environmental Protection team have produced a leaflet that provides advice and guidance to owners and managers of premises to prevent urban gulls from nesting on their roofs. Gull proofing measures have been recommended as part of the Council’s approval of planning applications, which should encourage developers to prevent gulls from nesting on their roof tops by eliminating perches, and using netting and wires where appropriate.
Litterpicks
As usual, community litterpicks proved to be popular events across the city throughout the year. The Bath in Bloom Committee members joined forces with our supporters and ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ groups many times over the year.
June Player and her ‘On Board ‘ group regularly engaged the help of the local branch of McDonalds, who donated a litter bin and then took part in a litterpick,
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