City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet is being recommended to approve the Love Your Community: Neighbourhood Team initiative, a dedicated taskforce to improve the cleanliness, safety and appearance of local areas.

The 12-month pilot project will see the Neighbourhood Team working closely with residents and community groups across the city to enhance the appearance of local streets and open spaces as well as increase pride and engagement.

Work will be carried out in addition to the council’s existing programme of activity and is a direct response to feedback from residents and local councillors. The initiative reflects our commitment to proactively tackling environmental issues.

Activities are set to include clearing problem litter spots, removing weeds, cleaning signs, manual and mechanical sweeping, painting and installing planters as well as encouraging community and volunteering opportunities.

Neighbourhood Team members will speak to local residents to discover whether there are any local safety issues which could be helped by cleaning and tidying problem areas or removing overgrown vegetation and cutting back foliage.

Residents will be welcome to talk to the team about the activities taking place and how they feel about where they live. Targeted advice and support will also be available for anyone with questions about waste collections and housing.

The Love Your Community: Neighbourhood Team project, which is set to be approved at the Cabinet meeting on 21 January, will cover different areas of the city throughout the year to deliver improvements.

Team members will be made up of council staff from a range of different services. Two crews are proposed under the project, with the first to start work before the end of the month.

The project will operate alongside the council’s existing services, ensuring that routine work continues uninterrupted while providing targeted support which is specific to individual locations.

Areas will be prioritised on a variety of factors reported to the team by local residents and councillors. Some of the issues will be seasonal, but all will be specific to the individual local area.

The targeted work will be different to the day-to-day issues that are covered by the council’s existing maintenance programme. Residents in the areas being supported by the Neighbourhood Team will be notified in advance and will have chance to highlight what needs to be targeted.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “The local environment has a huge impact on our sense of pride and well-being. From talking to our residents, we know that these are things that really matter to them.

“We have listened to what people have said and are investing in this proactive new approach to do everything we can to make our city a cleaner, greener and safer place for local people to live.

“The proposed Love Your Community: Neighbourhood Team project will make a real, visible difference to communities by targeting areas of local concern, whether this be a broken fence, an overgrown green space or a faded road sign.

“By using data to help us target specific areas we hope to create welcoming, safe, and green spaces that encourage healthy, inclusive communities and support our climate action goals. We are looking forward to working hand-in-hand with our residents to create communities people love and a city that everyone is proud to call home.”

Love Your Community: Neighbourhood Team will enhance the council’s existing environmental programme which covers:

• 96% of reported fly tipping on council land is removed within five working days, in most cases within 48 hrs of report
• cleansing teams start work from 7am to ensure the city is ready for its residents and visitors
• public street bins are emptied 4,600 times a week
• 600 SMART bins have been installed across the city to help save money, protect the environment and improve the cleanliness of our streets
• in the past 12 months 4,838 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued for littering, 72% were paid. People who didn’t pay, were taken to court
• we respond to more than 11,500 enquiries per year for street cleansing, grounds and tree maintenance; replying to all enquiries within an average of four working days
• our teams cleanse 517,324 meters of streets and pathways
• we cut 4,645,416 sqm of grass, and maintain 433,914 sqm of meadows
• around 100 operatives a day are across the city cleansing streets, sweeping gullies and maintaining hedges and verges
• we investigated 951 fly tips last year. In the streets that were targeted with Shop a Tipper we reduced fly tipping by 50%
• every 12 months we remove approximately 4,000 tonnes of litter and leaves from our streets and responded to over 6,000 customer enquiries for ad hoc cleansing above our programmed work.