Street sweeping

Mid Suffolk District Council undertakes regular scheduled street cleaning of adopted roads and footpaths within towns and villages in the District. Different areas of the District are cleaned on different frequencies, but as a general rule, Stowmarket town centre and car parks are cleaned every day.

It is important to note however, that our schedules are flexible and we do not clean a street that does not need cleaning. The emphasis of the Council is to do our best to keep Mid Suffolk District clean. That means that if you report areas (or we find areas) that have become a problem, we will deal with them rather than sticking to a schedule just because it exists.

Mid Suffolk District Council is responsible for the scheduled mechanical sweeping of all kerbed and drained roads within the district. This is generally performed on a monthly, quarterly or half-yearly basis according to need.

Leaf and blossom fall
MSDC do remove leaf and blossom fall, however this is an unpredictable task and we would ask the public to report areas that are problematic.

Suffolk County Council is responsible for any emergency clearing of materials, including mud, that might be a hazard on the highway and storm water drains.
Report a problem with flooding and drainage

Standards and Response times
The Council’s legal duty is set out in the Government's Code of Practice for litter, and this describes expected response times for different land use types:

The full code can be viewed here

Zone 1 (Primary Retail areas such as Ipswich Street, Stowmarket)

Clean by 8am each morning;
Back to clean from “ predominantly free of litter” within 6 hours;
Back to clean from “widespread distribution of litter” within 3 hours;
Back to clean from “heavily littered” within 1 hour.

Zone 2 (Car parks, industrial areas and High density housing)

Back to clean from “predominantly free of litter” within 12 hours;
Back to clean from “widespread distribution of litter” within 6 hours;
Back to clean from “heavily littered” within 3 hours.

Zone 3 (Housing estates, recreational land)

Back to clean from “predominantly free of litter” within 2 weeks;
Back to clean from “widespread distribution of litter” within 12 hours;
Back to clean from “heavily littered” within 6 hours.

Zone 4 (All other areas)

Back to clean from “predominantly free of litter” within 2 weeks;
Back to clean from “widespread distribution of litter” within 1 week;
Back to clean from “heavily littered” within 60 hours.
How often are major roads cleared of litter?

Roadside litter
Road side litter is one of the fastest growing litter problems, this is alongside the growth in road use.

The high levels of traffic on roads such as the A14 and A140 make clearing litter a dangerous proposition. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 makes allowance for this and as such litter clearance that might require road closure is to be performed when practicable and preferably incorporated in to other scheduled works.

The litter clearance work for the A14 has now been taken back in house as part of a partnership scheme with Ipswich Borough Council & Babergh District Council. The new 3 man team will commence work May 08 and carry out works within MSDC district as well as the partnership area boundaries.

Mid Suffolk employees perform the litter clearance of all A roads on a scheduled basis.

Report a street care and litter report online or contact our Customer Service Centre

Related links

Keep Britain Tidy Campaign
ENCAMS are an environmental charity who campaign directly to the public, best known for their Keep Britain Tidy campaign, which has been running for over fifty years.
http://www.encams.org/

Greener Safer Cleaner Communities
Find out about the initiatives that really work; and How to... tackle those cleaner safer greener issues which will make more of your community.
http://www.cleanersafergreener.gov.uk/