The Council is also responsible for the sweeping of streets and removal of litter and for keeping the local market grounds clean and litter-free.

Street litter and street sweeping

The Council operates a street cleaning programme covering the Ashfield District. The frequency of cleansing is dependant upon need, for example high usage areas such as town centres are cleaned daily, while housing estates are cleansed at a lower frequency. The council specifically targets black spot areas for additional cleaning and is constantly reassessing the cleaning schedule to match resources against need. Read more about the Street Cleaning programme.

However, if the visual appearance of an area should deteriorate to an unacceptable level between cleans, it will be cleaned up within a certain time, as laid down in a Litter Code of Practice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Litter in a public place is unsightly, dangerous to animals, and littering is an offence under The Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Act states that if a person drops, throws, deposits, or leaves anything that causes defacement in a public place, they are committing a littering offence. Fixed Penalty Notices of £50 are issued by the Enforcement Officer and are payable within 14 days. If the fine is not paid and action is taken to court the fine can be up to £2,500. So always try to use a litter bin or take it home.

Litter bins can be found throughout the district.

Report an area which needs to be cleansed urgently or report someone who dropped litter.