Getting our high streets ‘Spick & Span’ ready for summer

It's a programme of intensive street cleansing and community clean-ups delivered in parternship with our waste and streets partner, Veolia, that will get the borough’s high streets and town centres looking their best and ready for summer. 

Jet washing machines will be deployed over the coming weeks to give high profile parts of the borough like Sutton, Worcester Park and Wallington town centres a deep clean.

Resident groups are being encouraged to get involved to help make their local areas look their best.

Sutton Council is able to provide equipment such as bags and litter pickers, offer advice and arrange collection of full bags to community groups that register an interest via the website. For residents who don’t have time to organise or join a community clean-up, there’s an opportunity to make a simple online pledge to pick up litter they see while out and about, walking the dog or on the school run for example. Visit www.sutton.gov.uk/SpickAndSpan for details. 

Jet washing machines will be deployed over the coming weeks to give high profile parts of the borough like Sutton, Worcester Park and Wallington town centres a deep clean. 

Councillor Manuel Abellan, Chair of the Environment & Neighbourhood Committee at Sutton Council, said: “Our high streets and town centres are the lifeblood of the borough. It’s vital we do everything we can to support local traders and businesses by creating retail environments that are clean and pleasant to spend time in. It’s a sad fact that we have to spend millions of pounds every year cleaning up litter that has been dropped.

“I’m pleased to be launching Spick & Span Sutton this week, which will help make our town centres look their best. But this is about much more than just the council spending extra money on street cleansing. It’s about us working in partnership with our residents to make the borough the best it can possibly be. We want to do more to support community groups and individuals take pride in their local area; whether that be organising a large-scale community clean up, or just deciding to pick up a few pieces of litter on their daily commute. It all helps and it all contributes to making Sutton a better place to live, work and study.”  

Mick Beach, Street Manager for Veolia Sutton, added: "Our teams work hard all year round to keep the streets of Sutton clean. They are the front line tackling problems that affect the environment everyday like littering and fly tipping. We're delighted to have the opportunity to work with communities and do these deeper cleans and we look forward to seeing some very satisfying results."

The funding for this additional clean-up activity is being provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and is part of a £9.75m national grant announced in March 2019 to help support town centres across the country. 

Spick & Span Sutton is also helping us to achieve some of the aims of Ambitious for Sutton, making sure our towns in the borough are great places to live, work and raise a family.