City of Wolverhampton Council launched its Love Your Community: Neighbourhood Team initiative in January, a dedicated taskforce to improve the cleanliness, safety and appearance of local areas.

The original team will now be boosted by a second which will start work over the coming weeks. This team will focus on the cleansing and improvement of the main arterial routes into Wolverhampton, making sure residents and visitors experience a sense of pride across the whole of the city.

Introducing a second team will further support the 12-month pilot project which aims to enhance the appearance of local streets and open spaces as well as increase pride and engagement.

To date, the original team has spoken with 434 households across the city and 38 businesses, visited 17 streets and cleansed more than 19,000 metres of road and pavements.  

Areas covered by the project so far are All Saints, Blakenhall, Bushbury North, Ettingshall North, Fallings Park and Graiseley, with other locations being visited over the coming months.

The targeted Love Your Community work is being carried out in addition to the council’s existing programme of activity. It is a direct response to feedback from residents and local councillors and reflects our commitment to proactively tackling environmental issues.

Activities 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 are made up of council staff from a range of different services and projects are supported by partners from Wolverhampton Homes.

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

Residents in the areas being supported are notified in advance and people have chance to highlight what needs to be targeted when the team are on site.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: “Our first Love Your Community: Neighbourhood Team has had a very significant impact for local people and this second team will boost the work already underway, as well as making sure the main routes into our city are as clean and welcoming as they can be.

“Team members have seen an extremely positive response when out and about in communities: people have really appreciated the work our clean-up crews are doing and they have been able to speak to our engagement staff about issues that are concerning them.

“Our residents have been very welcoming; our crews have been delighted by the kind offers of cups of tea in the very cold weather and the way in which people have opened up and talked about how they feel about their local area.

“We have also been able to speak to residents about our hopes that this work will be continued by the community, perhaps with local litter picks or little events to bring local people together.

“It has been wonderful to work 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 Teams are enhancing 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
• in 2025, the council prosecuted 17 people for fly tipping and related offences. Offenders were ordered to pay fines and court costs totalling £36,188.54
• 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 respond to over 6,000 customer enquiries for ad hoc cleansing above our programmed work.