Lib Dems call on Council to clean up its act

10.27.38am GMT Thu 8th Nov 2007

Judith Lubbock

The Liberal Democrat group at City Hall has slammed the controlling Labour administration for failing to take effective action to clean up the streets of Norwich.

A new government backed report called the Local Environmental Quality Survey of England (LEQSE) has highlighted worrying problems concerning the overall environmental condition of Norwich. The report states that the overall standard for Litter, Detritus, Litter bins, Litter at Bus Stops and general street furniture was unsatisfactory. The report also highlighted serious problems concerning the cleanliness and drainage of pavements. Particularly worrying was the unsatisfactory state of road marking and general carriageway (road) condition.

Liberal Democrat City Councillor for Eaton Judith Lubbock commented:

"This is a very worrying report for Norwich and shows the ineffectiveness of Labour's strategy. Whilst progress has been made in areas such as flytipping the overall report makes uncomfortable reading. The overall standard of litter, pavement conditions and road conditions are rated as unsatisfactory. We have a beautiful city; let's not ruin it with litter."

The Liberal Democrats see the environmental condition of Norwich as part of a far bigger picture. As the report itself states "The 'Broken Windows Theory' and other similar work have long recognised that poor local environmental standards can cause law-abiding people to fear criminal activity unduly. Conversely, low standards can send signals to criminals that an area is 'fair game' for anti-social or more serious criminal behaviour".

The unsatisfactory condition of bus stops is also greatly concerning. As Councillor Judith Lubbock comments "If we are to encourage people out of their cars and onto public transport we need to make sure that the public transport environment is top notch. Seeing dirty bus stops with overflowing litter bins is not an appealing site for the residents of Norwich and will not encourage them to use public transport"

The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned to get Norwich cleaner. When the group was in power they embarked on a clean up of the city and put more money into street cleaning and launched the Civic Pride Scheme.

The party plans to raise the issue at the next full Council meeting later this month and will implore the Labour administration to take action to make Norwich a clean and beautiful place to live.

The LEQSE report is carried out on behalf of Defra (Department for environment food and rural affairs) and its purpose is to assess the overall environmental condition of a city and recommend action for local authorities. The full report can be found here http://www.encams.org/leqreports/