Merton Council is set to take part in the national ‘Clean for The Queen’ initiative- one of the first local authorities to get behind the campaign.

The special sprucing up will start in January 2016 for the run up to The Queen’s 90^th birthday on 21 April 2016.  This will be part of the council’s Love Your Street campaign.

More Love Your Street litter picks are being planned

Extra litter picks across the borough will be organised from January through to March, culminating in the biggest clean up weekend ever on Friday 4 to Sunday 6 March. Merton Council is joining in with litter charities across the country as well as businesses and land managers who are all also signing up to the campaign.

The council will be working with Keep Britain Tidy, Clean for the Queen and local groups to put a list of clean-up events together planned for next year.

Cabinet member for environmental cleanliness and parking, Councillor Judy Saunders, said: “This is a perfect fit with our ongoing Love Your Streets campaign and we are looking forward to joining forces with Clean for the Queen, Keep Britain Tidy and our local community groups to organise clean-ups across the borough. We know that many residents work hard to keep their neighbourhood clean against a small minority who don’t. Clean for The Queen is an opportunity to take a national stand against litter with a clear message that we will not tolerate people dropping rubbish on our streets.”

Adrian Evans, campaign director, Clean for The Queen, said: “It’s great to see Merton Council so enthused by this initiative. We now have more than 300 local authorities supporting the campaign, with Merton one of the first to get behind it. Littering spoils the environment and our town centres. It also costs councils millions of pounds in taxpayers’ money to clear up. Giving our country a good spring clean is our way of saying happy 90^th birthday Your Majesty.”

-ENDS-

Notes to editors

The Clean for The Queen campaign is backed by the Government and national organisations including Keep Britain Tidy, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Keep Wales Tidy and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, Country Life magazine, the RSPB, the Women’s Institute, Clean Up Britain, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the CPRE.

Clean for The Queen wants to hear from people keen to get involved, with the aim of attracting one million people to deliver an estimated 50,000 Clean for The Queen litter action events across the UK during a special clean-up weekend on 4, 5 and 6 March 2016 in time for The Queen’s 90^th birthday.