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Cleanliness Surveys

• Why do we need a Cleanliness Survey?
• What areas are involved?
• Are there examples of the grading?
• Is there any other useful information available?
• What do I do if I need to ask any questions?

Please select: Please select survey June 2005 December 2004 August 2004 May 2004 February 2004

See also: Street Cleaning

Why do we need a Cleanliness Survey?
The Government through its 'Crosscutting Review On Improving Public Space' has identified Local Environmental Quality as one of the chief concerns of local communities. This is supported by research undertaken by the Local Government Association who concluded that cleaner and safer streets are issues that are of concern to almost everyone.

Until the introduction of this Best Value Performance Indicator there was not a robust, reliable indicator covering environmental cleanliness. The Government's cross cutting review proposed that a new BVPI should be adopted to report on the cleanliness of the streets and local environment in local authorities.

The survey that forms the background to the Cleanliness BVPI has been developed to measure the cleanliness of the local environment, as a member of the public would perceive it.

300 transects will be surveyed in each of three 4-month periods during the year.

These will be

• April - July
• August - November
• December - March

A sample of this size (900 transects over a full year) will give results that can be used to assess the performance of local authorities in respect of their Local Public Service Agreement.

30 transects will be surveyed in each BVPI Land Use Class in each four-month period.

Cleanliness is measured in terms of litter and detritus, combined. Their grades are added together to calculate the overall performance indicator. The grading system is design to reflect the way that a member of public would perceive the local environment.

The BVPI measures the extent of litter and detritus on ten different land use classes of relevant land:

PRIMARY Retail and Commercial Areas
This land use class includes the main town and city retail and commercial centres . Primary Retail and Commercial Areas contain a choice of outlets in a range of different retail and commercial sectors (such as fashion clothing, financial services, restaurants, bars and entertainment's), and will include national and international brand names, Normally there is also a range of public facilities, including libraries, museums, law courts and places of worship.

Secondary Retail and Commercial Areas
This land use class covers secondary retail and commercial areas located outside main city and town retail and commercial centres (but exclude 'retail park' developments, which are included with industry, warehousing and science parks). Secondary Retail and Commercial Areas usually contain a range of facilities that mainly meet the needs of local residents. Most premises contain individual private businesses, sometimes branches of regional chains (such as bakers), and occasionally national brand names.

High Density Housing Areas
This Land Use Class includes housing of varying types, for example:

• Terraced housing in the inner areas of towns and cities
• Terraced housing in industrial and post-industrial villages
• Flats and maisonettes with only limited off-street parking on public housing estates
• Semi-detached and short terraced dwellings with limited or no purpose made off-street vehicle parking

Low Density Social Housing Areas
This Land Use Class includes all types of lower density social housing estates where purpose-made off-road garaging / parking is provided for more that 50% of the dwellings. Such provision can include front gardens that have been converted to provide hard standings or extensive garage courts serving high-rise blocks of flats that are set amongst landscaped areas.

This class also includes estates that were originally constructed to provide council or other social housing where tenants have taken up 'right-to-buy' options.

Low Density Private Housing Areas
This Class comprises low-density housing developments that were originally built for private purchase, located in urban areas, rural villages, and commuter 'villages' and which have off-road garaging / parking provision for more that 50% of dwellings.

Industry/Warehousing/Retail Sheds/Science Parks
This Class includes industrial and warehousing developments; out-of-town retail parks (including food and non-food developments); and science parks (containing offices, laboratories and manufacturing processes), which contain land that is owned or managed by the local authority and which is freely accessible to the public.

Main Roads
This Class comprises 'A' roads (marked in red and green on 1;50,000 Ordinance Survey Maps) in the following situations:

• Throughout rural areas (except where main roads run through larger settlements containing primary and secondary Retail and Commercial Areas and Higher Density Housing Areas).
• In urban areas, except where main roads run through Primary and Secondary Retail and Commercial Areas, or through High Density Housing areas where no selective demolition has taken place
• In high Density Housing Areas in urban areas where selective demolition has taken place in order to create a wider, often landscaped, main road corridor

Rural Roads
This Class comprised all adopted highways that are located outside built up areas and which are not otherwise included in the main Roads or other Highways Land Use Classes, The selection of survey transects on Rural Roads should pay careful regard to safety and should be limited to sites where there is a foot-way or a wide, easy walked verge.

Other Highways
This Land Use Class includes:

• Formal and informal lay-bus
• The first 50 metres of Byways Open to all Traffic, Roads Used as Public Paths and bridleways leading from metalled public highways
• Redundant highway infrastructure still accessible to the public, including stub access roads to future development sites
• Narrow roads and back alleys within housing areas. Normally this type of pathway is adopted and is usually closely bounded by walls and/or other boundary structures

Recreation Areas
This Land Use Class includes a wide range of open spaces that are freely accessible to the public and maintained by a local authority. Sites include parks, picnic sites, canals, lakes, riversides, and cycle ways (but excluding cycleways that are on or adjacent to main highways or where they run on routes classified as 'Other Highways'.

The BVPI survey measures the extent of both litter and detritus, each using four categories of cleanliness graded A-D as set out in the Code of Practice for Litter and Refuse.

Grade A is clean

- no litter or refuse

- no detritus present on the transect

Grade B is light

- predominantly free of litter except

- predominantly free of detritus for some small items; except for some small items

Grade C is significant

- widespread distribution of litter

- widespread distribution of detritus, with minor accumulations

Grade D is heavy

- heavy litter, with significant accumulations.

- heavy detritus, with significant accumulations.

A selection of five target wards is used for each four monthly survey period over a three year span. Using the methods described below each section of target wards will be comparable one with another, as far as is possible and all wards in a district will be sampled in a planned rotation.

What is a Transect?
A 'transect' is a name given to an area of relevant land or highway that is sampled as part of a Cleanliness BVPI survey, and on which a grade is given for litter and another for detritus. There are broadly two types of transect; one on highway sites and the other on recreation and other open areas

Transect on Highways (Streets)
A transect on a highway is normally 50 metres land, extending the whole width of the street or highway form backline to backline. It will include footways, road channels, carriageways pedestrian refuges, splitter islands, central reservations, and may also include landscaped areas such as verges, grassed areas, shrubbed areas, planters, tree pits, and the bases of hedges and fences that bound areas of relevant land or highway

Transects on Recreation Areas and Other Open Spaces
Transects may take different forms in Recreation Areas and other open spaces. Along footways crossing such spaces, transects should normally be 50 metres long, and extend 2 metres onto grassed or other areas that lie either side of the path. On larger open areas, such as sports fields and play areas, transects should not exceed 50 metres on either axis.

Litter Grading
Litter includes mainly synthetic materials, often associated with smoking, eating and drinking, that are improperly discarded and left my members of the public; or are spilt during waste management operations. Litter may also include putrescrible or clinical wastes, or faeces such as dog, bird and other animal faeces

Detritus Grading
Detritus comprises dust, mud, soil, grit, gravel, stones, rotted leaf and vegetable residues, and fragments of twigs, glass, plastic and other finely divided materials. Detritus includes leaf and blossom falls when they have substantially lost their structure and have become mushy or fragmented.

Other useful information can be found at:

Cleanliness BVPI
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill

Further Information
If you need advice or information about any of the above, please contact:

Malvern Customer Service Centre The Library Graham Road Malvern WR14 2HU Open: 9.00am - 5.30pm Mon - Fri

Telephone: 01684 862151 Fax: 01684 574906 Minicom: 01684 862186 Email