04 May 2023
GO! Southampton, the city’s Business Improvement District (BID), is praising the efforts of its street cleaning team – after recent figures revealed the dedicated crew cleared the height of 56 double decker buses* worth of fly posters from the city in 2022.
In addition to clearing Southampton of the astonishing amount of posters, the team also performed 407 street cleans and 287 hot washes, removed 42 separate lots of fly-tipping, emptied 38 overfilled bins, and safely removed 33 needles/sharp objects from the streets.
Joining forces with Southampton City Council, the team of cleaning experts, including Jim Battle and Martin Cuthbertson, work tirelessly to make the city an even more inviting place to live, work and visit.
Going above and beyond the levels of cleaning normally undertaken by councils, the partnership approach has led to fantastic results, significantly improving the cleanliness of popular city-centre locations such as the High Street, Above Bar Street, Bedford Place, Guildhall Square, London Road and Oxford Street.
Jim said: “GO! Southampton shares our goal of making Southampton a clean and safe place. We take pride in our work and strive to achieve the best results possible.
“People don’t want to spend time in a high street that’s dirty, so it’s crucial to make sure Southampton is ship-shape to welcome visitors. It is a great feeling to see the results of our hard work and we hope it will encourage more people to return to our fantastic city.”
The cleaning team’s hard work has not gone unnoticed. Southampton was awarded Purple Flag status in February of this year, which recognises measures taken to make the centres of towns and cities safe, diverse, vibrant, appealing and well-managed, to offer a positive experience to night-time consumers.
The BID’s high standard of street cleaning across the city and the absence of graffiti and litter was a particular standout in the assessor’s feedback.
Dominic Hiscock and Jeff Davison, Purple Flag Assessors, said: “We were impressed with the hard work and effective teamwork from the many staff and organisations contributing to the high standards being delivered in Southampton’s Night Time Economy.
“Worthy of particular mention was the cleanliness of the streets, parks and public spaces, with very little litter or graffiti found in the Purple Flag area.
“We know from our experience of visiting towns and cities during Purple Flag assessments that such high standards are very difficult to achieve but make a huge difference to the overall experience for customers and visitors in the Night Time Economy.”
They added: “It is clear that Southampton has a very hard working and effective team delivering this standard of cleanliness, and many other areas would gain a great deal by following their example.”
Stephen Manion, Chief Executive of GO! Southampton said: “From speaking to our BID levy payers, we understand that keeping the city clean is a top priority for them. After all, their customers won’t stick around if the high streets are looking in bad shape.
“We’re pulling out all the stops to make sure Southampton can give visitors a warm welcome, which we’re hoping will inspire even more people to return to the city and support local businesses through footfall and spending.”
*Calculation based on the length of 589 A3 posters (42cm)