Britain's cleanest city

Citation

(2001), "Britain's cleanest city", Property Management, Vol. 19 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2001.11319bab.031

Britain's cleanest city

Britain's cleanest city

Keywords: Competition, Cleaning, Awards

The announcement of the finalists in the "Britain's Cleanest City 2001" contest means that ten out of the UK's 58 cities are now a step nearer capturing the coveted title. Each of them has done particularly well to beat off stiff opposition from a record number of entrants and marked improvements in all-round standards to achieve their place on the shortlist of the competition, which is sponsored by the British Cleaning Council, the co-ordinating body for the country's £12 billion cleaning industry.

Now going forward to the stage of the competition are six of the finalists from the 1999 competition, the last occasion the biennial event was held: current title-holder, Chester, which has vowed to become the first city in the history of the competition to retain the trophy, as well as last year's three runners-up, Bath, Peterborough and Westminster, plus Hull and Manchester. Three cities achieving shortlist success with their first-ever bid for the title are Lincoln, Ely and the City of London, while Plymouth is straight back into the shortlist after entering again for the first time since taking the title back in 1991.

From this list will emerge the eventual winner of the increasingly prestigious title, announced at a special award ceremony on 6 March 2001, the opening day of The Cleaning Show, the British Cleaning & Support Services international exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham.

The aim of the competition, the seventh since the BCC launched the award scheme in 1988, is threefold:

1. 1.

   to identify the city which presents itself in its general environs and public buildings as the UK's Cleanest City;

2. 2.

   to encourage and recognise efforts to raise cleanliness standards throughout Britain's cities; and

3. 3.

   to create an awareness of the need for continual improvement of the envirornment.

Entry requirements have been streamlined this year, placing less emphasis on written submissions and photographs supplied by cities, and more weight on what judges actually see when they pay their unannounced visit to each entering city. All that was asked for from entrants was a brief submission indicating how the city goes about its cleaning, along with details of innovative ideas, public education and awareness campaigns, partnerships with business or community groups and any other relevant initiatives introduced over the past 12 months.

Taking the tourist's eye view

This was followed by a personal on-the-spot assessment of every participating city by the judges, who surveyed city-centre streets, parks and gardens, shopping centres and public buildings – inside and out – to see just how clean and litter-free they really were. Taking the tourist's eye view, they targeted for particular scrutiny the places which are likely to have the greatest impact on visitors: tourist attractions, including local museums, cathedral precincts and tourist information centres; bus and railway stations; approach roads, car parks and park-and-ride termini; and, of course, public toilets.

Now that they have their "top ten", the judges will be making their second round of inspections in order to determine the eventual winner; these further visits, along with the written submissions, will also help them in making their selection for the special Chairman's Awards, designed to reward initiative and excellence in key areas, where cities have demonstrated and implemented particularly creative schemes to promote manicipal cleanliness.

Differences between finalists and non-finalists often only "marginal"

"The record number of entries this year along with a continued rise in standards has given the judges some difficult decisions to make in selecting the shortlist", declared Peter Bird, immediate past BCC chairman and chairman of the "Britain's Cleanest City" competition judging panel. The difference between those cities which came just within the top ten and those that fell just outside was very marginal. Without exception, every city that entered has made marked improvements in maintaining municipal cleanliness, with major investments in such areas as extending paved areas, upgrading cleaning regimens, provision of filter and gum bins, and a whole plethora of "partnerships" with traders and the community. Educational initiatives aimed at stopping people dropping litter have almost become the norm.

Nevertheless, say the judges, cities sometimes fail to make the grade, not because of any deficiency in their cleaning teams or routines but through a lack of consideration from the general public, who continue to drop litter, even just after a cleaning machine has passed by. "There is still a great need to instil a culture of 'clean breeds clean' ", added Peter Bird.

"This will be a very tough competition to judge, with finalists extending from the very biggest cities, like Manchester, to the very smallest, such as Ely, as well as those faced with especially mammoth tasks like the neighbouring Cities of London and Westminster", commented Andrew Henman, current BCC chairman. "But the range and size of this year's entry is a welcome sign: it means that more and more cities are becoming aware of the importance – to both their residents and their visitors, and thus, to their economy – of achieving the highest possible cleanliness standards. Prizes such as ours, prestigious though they are, are just the icing on the cake".