Published: Monday 3 July 2023
People across the borough will see cleaner streets after a £865,000 investment in a new grime busters team and new equipment.
A year long programme begins today, Monday 3 July 2023 and will go beyond the day-to-day cleaning and maintenance to make the borough the cleanest in London, tackling anti-social behaviour and environmental crimes.
A new street washing crew and two new graffiti crews will hit the streets to jet wash pavements and remove graffiti and fly posting. On top of the current team of 12 community wardens, there will be more enforcement officers who will be able to enforce against begging, illegally street trading, littering and idling engines.
The move is part of the borough’s plans to enhance the amazing spaces across Kensington and Chelsea.
Cllr Cem Kemahli, lead member for planning, place and environment said:
“Our new teams will work with our already hard-working enforcement and street cleaning officers to go above and beyond to tackle common problems like fly-tipping, greasy pavements and graffiti.
“In this year-long programme, we’ll reach every corner of the borough so that by 2024 our streets are cleaner than ever before.”
A community safety survey in 2021 reported that the issues most concerning residents in Kensington and Chelsea were drug related offending, violence and anti-social behaviour. Anti-social behaviour linked to the night time economy was a particular concern, with 65 per cent of women who responded to the survey saying that felt unsafe after dark.
A month-long trial took place in Earls Court in November 2022 and as part of the year-long crackdown, new enforcement officers will conduct evening and late night patrols, with the police, to address this and enforce against crime.
Cllr Emma Will, lead member for community safety, said:
“Residents have told us that anti-social behaviour affects how safe they feel and this particularly affects women at night. Our streets are comparatively safe, but we are taking action and doing everything we can do to make our residents, workers and tourists feel even safer. Alongside the police, our new enforcement officers will be a reassuring presence, tackling anti-social behaviour day and night.”
Gary O’Hagan, Regional Manager for SUEZ recycling and recovery UK said:
“SUEZ is pleased to play an important role in keeping the streets of Kensington and Chelsea clean. We take great pride in the clean-up operations we deliver on behalf of the Council, and our crews are excited to be involved in this new initiative to introduce more measures to make the borough even cleaner, safer and greener for the residents living in the area. We fully support the Council’s ambitions to make the borough the cleanest in London and look forward to helping them deliver on this.”
The programme will go ward by ward, beginning with Brompton and Hans Town from Monday 3 July 2023 and reaching every ward by Summer 2024.