The city council achieved Beacon status for waste recycling, and more than three quarters of you feel the council provides sufficient opportunities for recycling. Your awareness of recycling is also very high.  Rubbish and graffiti, however, is a nationwide concern for residents and continues to receive much media attention, both locally and nationally.

 

Examples of achievements include two successful Environment Action Days. and a recent week-long events in Millfield, where we removed over 100 items of graffiti, more than 60 loads of fly-tipping, visited 80 roads with a mechanical sweeper, removed eight abandoned vehicles, and emptied around 80 contaminated recycling bins, which could not be removed under normal procedures.  City council teams are working together to provide additional resources such as enforcement officers, and campaigns against litter and graffiti.

 

We provide ongoing assistance to residents groups, for example, Cuckoos Hollow, Werrington Village, and Park Farm, and have arranged further contact with you through surgeries and by attending festivals, for example, Bretton, Dogsthorpe, Dickens Street Millennium Centre, Cathedral Square.  Others are scheduled throughout the rural and urban communities up to April this year.   

 

To ensure our colleagues are well informed about legislative changes which may affect you and our services, we have produced a 'Toolkit of Environmental Powers' for internal sharing of up to date information.

 

By regular working with partners including the police and immigration services, we are taking off the road uninsured and untaxed vehicles, to help prevent abandonment and use for criminal purposes.  Another example of pro-active partner working includes Cross Keys Homes and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service where we set up an Arson Action Group to clean up areas and educate residents of risks.